Bigger, taller, more powerful: There has been a lot of noise at the home of the Werkself in recent days; a new scoreboard has been installed in the South Stand. And it has been visible in its full glory since the middle of the week. To enable all spectators to have a better view of the score, highlights, substitutions etc, the video wall is a level higher on the fourth tier.
Work has also started in the North Stand for the installation of a similarly-sized video wall above the heads of the fans. The new screens are 97 m² bigger than the previous ones from 2009 (68 m²) and also guarantee a much better image quality.
They are undisputed first choices at Real Madrid and true title collectors on top of that. On the penultimate matchday in the Primera Division, Toni Kroos, Dani Carvajal and Co. secured the 34th Spanish league title for the top European club with a 2-1 home win against Villarreal. Both former Werkself players were in the starting eleven.
Right back Carvajal (31 league appearances in 2019/20) made his breakthrough at Leverkusen during a one-year loan from Real Madrid's second team in 2012/13. Since then the Spaniard has made an impressive 278 appearances for Real. With just two appearances less for the Madrid team, midfield maestro Kroos – also during a loan spell – played for Bayer 04 from January 2009 to the summer of 2010 and moved on to Spain from FC Bayern in 2014. Bayer 04 congratulates the two former Werkself players on winning the league title!
The former Leverkusen player André Schürrle has announced the end of his career on Friday afternoon. "On behalf of me and my family, I want to say thank you to everybody who has been part of these phenomenal years. Your support made everything possible!," declared the 2014 World Cup winner on his Instagram channel. "I'm looking forward to new challenges and can hardly wait to start this new chapter," the 29-year-old played for the Black and Reds for two years from the summer of 2011 and he scored 18 goals and provided 13 assists for the Werkself in 65 Bundesliga games. Bayer 04 wish André Schürrle all the best for the future!
Will Bayer 04 head coach Bosz and his Bundesliga colleagues be able to make five substitutions in the 2020/21 campaign? The guardians of the rule book at IFAB have announced that they want to continue with five substitutions instead of three initially up to the summer of 2021 following the trial period during the coronavirus-affected season. Whether this rule will be introduced next season in the individual leagues will be decided by the relevant competition organisation in the particular country – for the Bundesliga that is the German Football League (DFL).
The Bayer 04 women’s team secured a win in the friendly during the international break. Without a total of eight international players, coach Roberto Pätzold’s team defeated Bundesliga 2 side Borussia Mönchengladbach 3–1 at the Kurtekotten Training Centre, thanks to goals from Lobke Loonen (1’, penalty), Caroline Kehrer (41') and Valentina Mädl (66').
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Bayer 04 will have to manage without striker Christian Kofane in the coming weeks. The 20-year-old sustained a muscle injury to his left thigh on international duty with the Cameroon national team during the recent international break. This will prevent him from playing in the upcoming Werkself matches.
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FSV Mainz 05 went into the international break on the back of an away win at Borussia Mönchengladbach. Currently sixth in the table, the Rheinhessen side – who have been impressive on the road – now aim to continue their good start to the Bundesliga campaign at home when they face the Werkself on Saturday, 10 October (kick-off: 15:30 CEST). In terms of squad selection, Urs Fischer once again has more options at his disposal. Up front, the Mainz coach is likely to continue relying on what is currently the league’s most successful strike partnership. The lowdown on our next opponents.
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Exciting experiences and exclusive insights into the Werkself and the BayArena awaited the young footballers from the BA04 Football Academy Guangzhou in China during their visit to the Rhineland this week. As well as taking part in a joint training session with the Bayer 04 Football Academy, the youngsters marvelled at the Bundesliga club’s stadium during a guided tour. The highlight of the visit was a private press conference with former Bayer 04 striker Stefan Kießling, during which he shared tips from his own career with the young players. On Saturday afternoon, 10 October, the group will round off their visit by supporting the Werkself in the away match in Mainz.
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Fans ask, Carolin Simon answers: As part of Bayer 04’s second Ask Me Anything (AMA) session on Reddit, the Leverkusen captain took questions from the community. The full-back, who returned to the club this summer after ten years away, set aside an hour and a half for the Q&A session with fans, offering a very personal insight into, amongst other things, her daily life as a footballer and her role as captain, as well as her passion for Pokémon.
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