
Birthday greetings, three times! Before the training session on Tuesday morning, there was a serenade for three birthday boys at the Werkself: Goalkeeper Niklas Lomb is 27, goalkeeping coach David Thiel is now 36 and assistant coach Xaver Zembrod celebrates his 54th birthday. Fernando Carro, chairman of the board at Bayer 04, was a year older on Monday. Bayer 04 wishes many happy returns to one and all on their birthdays.
While his teammates have been sharing access to their holidays over the past couple of weeks, there was less on social networks about Kevin Volland. The 27-year-old made his return at the weekend with good news: With a baby in his arms and the words "Proud dad of two", he revealed a happy secret kept away from the public up till now. His second child was born on 22 July. Congratulations to the Volland family.
The German Football League (DFL) has called another emergency general meeting next week for the 36 clubs in the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2. In the virtual general meeting on Tuesday, 4 August, the main item on the agenda is the possible return of spectators to stadiums in the 2020/21 season. The background to this meeting is the need to make a decision on what policies the clubs should follow, e.g. regarding away fans, standing and the sale of alcohol plus track and tracing in the event of a coronavirus outbreak.
Last Sunday revealed the champions of the Italian top-flight Serie A: With two games to play, Juventus can no longer be caught by a possible Europa League quarter-final opponent for the Werkself. The last two matches of the league campaign see Inter Milan trying to qualify for the group stages of the Champions League. The second possible opponent in the quarter-finals, Getafe, ended their season in eighth place on 19 July, which is outside a European qualification position but they do have more time to to recover before the Europa League restarts.

A special award for special social commitment. At this year's ceremony for the Sepp Herberger Awards in Wolfsburg on Monday night, the DFB Sepp Herberger Foundation recognised Bayer 04 in the social rehabilitation category. The Bundesliga club received the prize, together with €12,000, for its great service to inmates, particularly in the Wuppertal-Ronsdorf prison.
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Werkself-TV shows the highlights of the Bayer 04 women's 1-2 loss at VfL Wolfsburg on the 20th matchday of the Google Pixel Frauen-Bundesliga 2025/26.
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The Werkself suffered another setback in the tight race for third place in the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga. Roberto Pätzold's side lost 2-1 at VfL Wolfsburg in a hard-fought contest on Sunday evening, with Vanessa Fudalla's goal in stoppage time proving too little too late. Leverkusen have dropped to sixth in the table with 31 points, four off third place.
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The Bundesliga home game against VfL Wolfsburg in the first half of the season was one of those classic ‘days to forget’ for Bayer 04 Women. It started with goalkeeper Charlotte Voll being shown a red card in the first minute of the game, and following a further sending-off, coach Roberto Pätzold's 9-women side ended up losing 5-1 to last season's runners-up. At 18.30 CET on Sunday, they'll have the chance to exact revenge at the AOK Stadium - and pick up valuable points in the race for third place.
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After full time in the 1-1 draw against FC Bayern Munich, the Bayer 04 fans first had to catch their breath. Firstly because of their usual loud support, and secondly because of the great drama they'd witnessed on the pitch: three disallowed goals, two red cards and a Werkself side who "again produced a very good performance against strong opponents", as head coach Kasper Hjulmand described. The Dane was particularly enthused by the performance of young Montrell Culbreath, while Patrik Schick got to enjoy his 200th appearance under the Cross. The Werkself Review unpacks the action.
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