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.
After being nominated for the Bundesliga Goal of the Year 2025, Martin Terrier's wonderful strike for the opener against FC Köln is now also up for selection for the ARD Sportschau Goal of the Month award for December 2025. Bayer 04 fans have until 19:00 CET on 10 January to vote for the French forward.
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Rüdiger Vollborn has been at the club for 40 years, he holds the record number of Bundesliga appearances for the club (401) and is the only Bayer 04 player to have won both the UEFA Cup (1988) and the DFB Pokal (1993). And the Berliner stayed with the Werkself after ending his impressive playing career as he worked as a goalkeeping coach for the following nine years. Vollborn now works under the Bayer Cross as a fan liaison officer and club archivist. Since February 2021, the personalised Black and Red lexicon takes Werkself fans under the heading of 'Rudi recounts...' on a brief trip through the history of Bayer 04 every month…
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"In every ending lies a new beginning" is a well-known saying. This phrase has probably never been more apt at Bayer 04. After winning the Bundesliga in 2023/24 and finishing as runners-up in 2024/25, the summer was the most eventful ever in terms of transfers. Over ten players and the coach, including the coaching staff, left the club. A lot of the heroes of the double-winning side began a new chapter. It was the end of an era. And at the same time the beginning of a new, very exciting and promising chapter for Leverkusen. The Werkself welcomed more than a dozen new arrivals, including experienced title-winners and young talents, to build a new "foundation for a successful team capable of winning titles" under the Bayer Cross, as managing director sport Simon Rolfes put it. A new spirit, a new hunger, a new story was to be created. Bayer04.de looks back at the first few months of this story and the final act of the preseason.
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43 points at the end of the last Bundesliga season were not only more than ever before for the Bayer 04 Women, but also led to a record fourth-place finish. That was followed by a Hinrunde with many more victories, but also some setbacks. In an interview with bayer04.de, sporting director Achim Feifel takes stock at the end of the year.
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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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