At the end of last week, Andrey Lunev signed a two-year deal in Leverkusen. The 29-year-old goalkeeper was at Zenit St. Petersburg for the previous four and a half years and in that time he won the Russian league title three times and the domestic cup competition once.
Lunev’s excitement at the new chapter at Bayer 04 was clear to see during his first session on the training ground at the BayArena. With a little smile, the 1.93 metre shot-stopper stepped onto the turf with eleven teammates in the morning and the Russian trained with the players left in Leverkusen a couple of hours later in the afternoon. The reason for splitting the Werkself into two groups: There were further performance tests at the BayArena on Monday.
Florian Wirtz, Kerem Demirbay, Karim Bellarabi and Co. completed numerous one-on-one moves in an enclosed space in the morning and they also tested Lunev, Lennart Grill and Maximilian Neutgens between the sticks. 'Training group 1' ended the session by cooling off in a pool next to the pitch – the players in action in the afternoon completed a similar programme.
Offensive player Samed Onur will now play in the Turkish top-flight. The 18-year-old, who spent nine years in the youth section at Bayer 04, has signed a contract with Fatih Karagümrük. The Istanbul team ended last season in eighth place. Onur says about his time under the Bayer Cross: "Many thanks to Bayer 04 for almost ten great years at Leverkusen. In spite of a number of setbacks, I always enjoyed being on the pitch. I had a great grounding here, was able to make my debut for the first team and I gained lots of friends. My journey is now taking me elsewhere but I will always look back at this time with great pleasure and pride. Thank you." We wish you lots of success in Istanbul, Samed.
Cem Türkmen also moves abroad with immediate effect. The 19-year-old central midfielder signed a contract with the French top-flight newcomers Clermont Foot 63. "I grew up at Leverkusen, learned to play football here and made my first team debut. I will never forget that exciting time," declared Türkmen who played in a Werkself shirt for 13 years. In the new season, the midfielder will play for the Austrian second division club FC Austria Lustenau on loan. All the best to you too, Cem.
Hans-Peter Lehnhoff has long been a key personality at Bayer 04. The man for all seasons ended his playing career with the Werkself after five years in 1999 and since then he has worked on organisational matters relating to the Werkself. When time permits, he also plays for the Bayer 04 Veterans team. And he is also considered to be unbeatable at football tennis.
Lehnhoff celebrated his 58th birthday on Monday. And, as usual, he was at the BayArena on his birthday following the Werkself sessions on the training ground. We wish you the best of health – for many more years.
With their wonderful goals, Martin Terrier and Florian Wirtz are up for the Bundesliga Goal of the Year 2025. Voting for fans will run exclusively via the official Bundesliga app until Sunday, 4 January.
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Last-minute ecstasy, huge disappointment and a historic performance on the European stage - 2025 was a real emotional roller coaster, especially for the U19s. A rousing run in the knockout phase secured the team a place in the final of the German championships, where they lost by the narrowest of margins. Despite the departure of several key players, the young Werkself team quickly regained their usual strength and qualified for the knockout rounds in the UEFA Youth League for the first time at the end of the year. In 2025, youngsters Jeremiah Mensah and Montrell Culbreath made their debuts in the Bundesliga, the DFB Pokal and the UEFA Champions League. The other youth teams also contributed great performances and a number of trophies to the collective Black and Red success, while the successful Bayer 04 Future Kids project broke new ground. Read on for the 2025 review of the youth teams.
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Four Bayer 04 players are in action at the 35th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations being played in Morocco from 21 December to 18 January 2026: Eliesse Ben Seghir for the hosts, Edmond Tapsoba with Burkina Faso, Ibrahim Maza for Algeria and Christian Kofane with Cameroon. Updates on the AFCON matches involving Werkself players...
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A memorable 12 months: 2025 was a year marked by success, intense competition and groundbreaking innovations for the #B04eSports team. After ending the 2024/25 season as runners-up, the Leverkusen-based console pros got down to business in a new, completely restructured season model, in which showdowns rather than divisions were the decisive factor on the road to the final round of the German Club Championship. Bayer 04 quickly earned a place in the history books of the most prestigious competition in German eSports and secured some valuable advantages for the coming year. Bayer04.de takes a look back at 12 months full of passion and the determination to take the next step.
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Sustainability once again had many faces at Bayer 04 in 2025: In community activity, the club supported countless regional campaigns, including the Leverkusener Tafel, the Frauenennotruf Leverkusen e.V. and the homeless aid organisation "Kältegang". But the Black and Reds have also been involved in good causes around the world - including the Young Coaches training programmes in Uganda and Ecuador plus the Genuine World Cup in the USA, where the Inclusion Werkself competed. Bayer 04 was also fully committed to the environment and underwent external and independently certification in accordance with the European environmental management standard EMAS, for example, to analyse and optimise the club’s environmental efforts. Looking back at sustainability in 2025.
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