Due to organisational reasons, the first friendly against third division SV Wehen Wiesbaden on Wednesday, 14 July will be played behind closed doors at the Kurtekotten Performance Centre. Anybody wanting to watch the first Werkself match of the summer live from 18.00 CEST, can watch the game on the Bayer 04 YouTube channel or on Sport1.
Following the training camp (16-23 July), the team led by new head coach Gerardo Seoane will play another two matches in Leverkusen. Both the game against the Dutch top-flight side FC Utrecht (28 July, 16.00 CEST) and the meeting with the Spanish La Liga club Celta Vigo (31 July, 16.00 CEST) will be played at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium.
If the coronavirus pandemic situation remains stable in Leverkusen then it is possible that fans may return for the two friendlies. Spectators will have to be vaccinated, recuperated or have a negative test. In addition, no away fans are allowed to attend either game. Bayer 04 will publish further information on any access procedures immediately before the two matches.
Strengthening the Bayer 04 Leverkusen youth teams: Konstantinos Kotsifakis will join the Werkself from Bundesliga 2 club Hertha Berlin for the 2026/27 season, where he will be a permanent member of the Leverkusen U19 coaching set-up. The German-Greek will also take on an operational role in coaching the Bayer 04 Future Team. The 29-year-old was most recently head coach of the U17s at Hertha Berlin.
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Another award for the Bayer 04 head groundsman and staff: After coming top in the 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2024/25 seasons, the BayArena pitch came second in the Bundesliga Pitch of the Year ranking for the 2025/26 season. VfL Wolfsburg secured the top spot this year, with TSG Hoffenheim in third place.
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Opening opponents, derby weekends, the opponents in the season finale: This information and more will be available to Bayer 04 fans on Thursday, 2 July, when the 2026/27 Bundesliga fixture list is published.
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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 personal 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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