Head coach Gerardo Seoane welcomed 23 players to the training ground on Wednesday morning. After the players in the starting line-up went through a recovery session yesterday, everybody was on the training ground this morning. And there was particularly good news: Captain Lukas Hradecky, who was up to now in self-isolation, was able to rejoin his teammates in training again for the first time today.
The DFL vote for EA SPORTS Player of the Month for January is open today – Werkself player Moussa Diaby is included with his hat-trick in the match against FC Augsburg (5-1) standing out. In addition to the France international, also up for the vote are Robert Lewandowski, Thomas Müller (both FC Bayern), Patrick Wimmer (Arminia Bielefeld), Erling Haaland (Borussia Dortmund) and Josko Gvardiol (RB Leipzig).
The #BundesligaPOTM is decided by 40% votes from fans, 30% from clubs and 30% from pundits. You can vote for Moussa HERE.
Gerardo Seoane was not only able to welcome his players to the training ground today but also a birthday boy: His assistant coach Alberto Encinas today celebrates his 40th birthday. The Spanish coach joined Leverkusen from Barcelona at the start of the season where he had been assistant coach for the U19 team since 2017 as well as the Barca second team coach.
Andreas Neuendorf also celebrated his birthday today as he turned 47. 'Zecke' played for the Werkself from 1994 to 1997 as well as 2000 to 2001 before the Berlin-born player returned to his hometown club Hertha Berlin. Neuendorf was the assistant to Pal Dardai at Hertha up to matchday 13.
Many happy returns also to Angelos Charisteas, who is 42 today. The Greek player was signed on loan from FC Nürnberg in 2009. He made 16 appearances scoring two goals and in that year was with the Black and Reds in the DFB Cup final.
Bayer 04 also remember Rinus Michels today. The Dutchman was the Werkself head coach from July 1988 to April 1989 for a total of 31 games. Michels passed away in 2005 and he would have been 94 today.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen will have to manage without centre-back Edmond Tapsoba in the coming weeks. The Burkina Faso international returned to the Werkself from the Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco with a muscle injury.
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The Werkself are away to Hamburg SV at the end of the Hinrunde in the 2025/26 Bundesliga campaign. The match at the newly promoted club is on Tuesday night, 13 January (kick-off: 20:30 CET). Ahead of the first encounter with HSV since 2018, Kasper Hjulmand spoke about the strengths of the opponents, lessons learnt from the home defeat against VfB Stuttgart and provided a squad update.
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In Germany, the temperatures are currently around zero, leaving even professional footballers freezing - but not the Bayer 04 Women. Roberto Pätzold's team have fled the cold to the south and are preparing for the second half of the season at a training camp in the Algarve, almost 2,000 kilometres away from home as the crow flies. The Leverkusen squad landed in Faro on Saturday morning and have already completed the first three training sessions over the weekend.
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It was a disappointing Saturday night. The Werkself lost 4-1 to VfB Stuttgart to start the new year on Bundesliga matchday 16 in 2025/26, a result that left both players and fans disappointed. "We played without any passion," said Alejandro Grimaldo honestly afterwards. Teammate Jarell Quansah was even more self-critical, emphasising: "We were miles off it in the first half. You can't put in a performance like that, especially in front of our own fans and I can only apologise to them, to be honest." Read on for the reaction, facts and stats from the clash with VfB Stuttgart in the Werkself review.
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