Following on from Patrik Schick and Charles Aránguiz, Exequiel Palacios is the third international player back in Leverkusen at the start of the second week of the preseason. The midfielder completed large parts of full training in the first session of the new season. Head coach Gerardo Seoane focused on a range of moves in restricted space.
After the joint warm-up routine, Schick worked one-to-one on his finishing with fitness coaches Schahriar Bigdeli and Daniel Jouvin.
This week, Robert Andrich and Co. will be on training pitch one daily from 10.30 CEST by the BayArena. All sessions are open to Black and Red fans. The Seoane team also have a second session in the stadium on Tuesday 5 July and Thursday 7 July.
Please note: Changes may be made at short notice, Bayer 04 will inform fans via the club media.
The Werkself play the first preseason friendly on Saturday 9 July. The match against third division MSV Duisburg is in Velbert at 15.30 CEST. The ticket office at the IMS Arena is open two hours before kick-off at 13.30 CEST.
The 4 x 100 metre relay team of German para-athletes set a new record on Friday 1 July at the home meeting for TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen at the Fritz Jacobi facility: First leg runner Phil Grolla, Johannes Floors, Markus Rehm and final leg runner Felix Streng completed the run in an incredible 40.52 seconds and are now the new world record holders.
The previous record time of 40.73 seconds was set by the USA at the 2013 World Cup in Lyon. "Of course, we hoped we could do that time. But it's simply fantastic that it really happened in the end," raved Rehm following the race.
A number of TSV athletes also produced personal bests at the home meeting. Congratulations and great respect for all the performances.
It was another incredibly close call in the end: The second showdown in the 2026/27 VBL Club Championship saw the #B04eSports team once again narrowly miss out on a place in the top 16 of the preliminary round – and with it, a spot in the in-person knockout stage. It was a bitter blow: Marc and Sean Landwehr again fell just short, despite being level on points with their rivals. As was the case last month, their weaker record across the twelve individual matches in the six preliminary round fixtures proved decisive.
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“They stuck with us over the past few weeks when things weren’t going so well,” said captain Edmond Tapsoba, thanking the fans for their support after the 2–1 win in Cologne and dedicating the derby victory to them. Throughout the 90 minutes, the Werkself had looked unfazed and in command, inflicting the first home defeat of the season on FC Köln. It was the sixth consecutive win against the Cologne team for Bayer 04 – head coach Carles Martínez, on the other hand, was facing the team from the neighbouring city for the first time and “now really knows what this derby win means”. The Werkself derby review.
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Following the 2–1 derby victory away at FC Köln on Bundesliga matchday 9, Edmond Tapsoba, Malik Tillman and Aleix Garcia spoke to Werkself TV...
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Werkself TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04's 2-1 derby win at 1. FC Köln Matchday 9 of the 2026/27 Bundesliga season...
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There were celebrations among those in black and red at the RheinEnergieSTADION. On Matchday 9 of the 2026/27 Bundesliga season, the Werkself beat 1. FC Köln 2-0 and registered their sixth successive win in the derby. Aleix Garcia put Bayer 04 in front after just seven minutes with a direct free kick. Leverkusen played with discipline and energy after that and didn't allow some fierce challenges to unsettle them. Patrik Schick made it 2-0 in the 86th minute, and Said El Mala's goal in stoppage time for Köln proved nothing more than consolation. Jonas Hofmann crowned the derby win with his 100th appearance for the club.
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