
Head coach Gerardo Seoane was able to welcome Odilon Kossounou back to the squad on Tuesday. The central defender headed home before the turn of the year to take part in the Africa Couple Nations with Ivory Coast. The tournament ended for the Ivorians last week with a 1-0 defeat against Egypt in the Round of 16. That means Kossounou is available for the match against BVB.
Paulinho has also returned to full training in the shadow of the BayArena. The Brazilian forward was sidelined after testing positive for Covid-19 and he is now being gradually brought back up to speed.




Julian Baumgartlinger (after knee injury) and Daley Sinkgraven (after muscle injury) were involved with some of the team training on Tuesday while Exequiel Palacios continues to be sidelined due to back problems. .
A few days before the start of the second half of the season in the FLYERALARM Women's Bundesliga, the coaches and captains of the twelve clubs have voted for their four best players in six different categories. In the most improved category, there was a player from the Bayer 04 squad in Verena Wieder. The 21-year-old was in third place in the rankings, with 18.2% of all the votes, which she shared with Maximiliane Rall (Bayern Munich). Wieder joined Leverkusen from SC Freiburg in the summer of 2020 and last season scored four league goals for the Black and Reds. Carry on, Verena.
With the exception of Wendell (250 games), no other Brazilian player has made more appearances for Bayer 04: Juan, signed from flamingo Rio de Janeiro in the summer of 2002, played 176 times for the Black and Reds (16 goals). After five years he moved on to AS Roma before returning to Brazil in 2019 where he ended his playing career. Juan today celebrates his 43rd birthday – many happy returns.

Bayer 04 congratulates Sebastian Boenisch on his 35th birthday. The Polish left-back joined the Werkself in November 2012 and he went on to play 76 times (3 goals, 12 assists) for Bayer 04 in four years. After joining other clubs, mainly in Austria, Boenisch ended his playing career in the summer of 2020. Many happy returns and the best of health for the year ahead too.

Werkself-TV shows the highlights of the Bayer 04 women's 1-2 loss against VfL Wolfsburg on the 2nd matchday of the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga 2026/27.
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Bayer 04’s eight opponents in the group stage of the 2026/27 UEFA Europa League have been confirmed. At the draw on Friday 28 August held at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco, the Werkself were drawn against two opponents from each of the four pots. There are a total of four home and four away matches. Read on for details of opponents and fixture dates.
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In the 3-2 defeat at Bundesliga newcomers SV 07 Elversberg, the Werkself found the back of the net in the closing stages and, with a bit of luck, could still have equalised. “Today, our play wasn’t good enough, particularly when it came to the basics,” said head coach Carles Martínez. Like the boss, Ibrahim Maza also wants to learn from the match and look ahead: “Next week, people should be able to see from the very first minute that we want it more than our opponents.” The Werkself review on the Bundesliga opener in 2026/27.
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Werkself TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04's 2-3 loss at SV 07 Elversberg on Matchday 1 of the 2026/27 Bundesliga season...
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No points to start the league campaign: Bayer 04 lost 3-2 away to newly promoted SV 07 Elversberg in the first Bundesliga match of the 2026/27 campaign. Two quick-fire goals from Lukas Petkov (8’) and Cole Campbell (10’) gave the hosts an early lead, before David Mokwa scored the Saarland side’s third shortly after half-time (46’). In the closing stages, the Werkself rallied and staged a late comeback with goals from Patrik Schick (77’) and Christian Kofane (90+1’), but the Black and Reds were denied an equaliser.
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