
Werkself head coach Xabi Alonso will welcome his players back to the pitch from tomorrow. The first session starts at 11.00 CET on training pitches 1 and 2 at the BayArena. The team have five training sessions this week. There are two on Wednesday at 10.30 CET on the pitch and another inside the BayArena at 14.30 CET.
On all the other days, training will start as usual at 11.00 CET. All sessions are open to fans.
Madi Monamay will immediately join all the Werkself training sessions. The U19 player will train with the team under head coach Xabi Alonso for the time being. The 16-year-old defender from Belgium will continue with pre-match training and matches with the Leverkusen U19s.
Several Werkself players are already hard at work: The recently injured goalkeeper Andrey Lunev, Joshua Eze, Ayman Azhil plus today's birthday boy Timothy Fosu-Mensah are at the Werkstatt rehab and training centre at Bayer 04 on the third floor at the BayArena. Patrik Schick has already been working hard on his comeback every day in between the festive holidays. He will also be there tomorrow along with the other players.
The Werkself are set to play the first friendly of the year on Saturday 7 January. Venezia from Italy, including former Leverkusen player Joel Pohjanpalo, are the visitors to the Ulrich Haberland Stadium. The kick-off is at 15.00 CET.
The last of four winter friendlies will be played a week later: Leverkusen entertain Danish champions FC Copenhagen at the BayArena on Sunday 15 January (kick-off: 13.00 CET).
Tickets are available for both matches. Click HERE to access the ticket shop.

The Bayer 04 Women also return on Tuesday. Head coach Robert de Pauw will lead the first session of 2023 with his players at the Kurtekotten Performance Centre.
The Leverkusen women's team also have their first friendly on Saturday 7 January. The top-flight Dutch side Fortuna Sittard are the visitors at the Kurtekotten Performance Centre. The kick-off is at 14.00 CET and entrance is free of charge.

Once again in the last four! Bayer 04 put in a mature and, for long stretches, commanding performance to defeat a courageous FC St. Pauli in the quarter-finals of the 2025/26 DFB Pokal to reach the semi-finals of the competition for the third time in a row. Martin Terrier gave Leverkusen the lead on 32 minutes before Patrik Schick made it 2-0 on 63 minutes. Substitute Jonas Hofmann capped off a strong second half for the Werkself with the third goal in added time.
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The German Football League (DFL) has announced the three candidates for the title of Bundesliga Rookie of the Month for January. That includes Werkself player Jarell Quansah. Fans of Bayer 04 can vote for their favourite on the Bundesliga app from now until Thursday, 5 January (23:59 CET).
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As in the past two years, the Werkself are aiming to come out on top in the DFB Pokal quarter-finals on Tuesday night, 3 February (kick-off: 20:45 CET). With eleven home games in a row without defeat against the Kiezkicker, the Black and Reds go into the floodlit match in confident mood. But the Pokal, as is often said, has its own magic and the team from the Millerntor has much more to offer than the current 17th place in the Bundesliga would suggest. After all, Bayer 04 are one of the big German teams the combative Hamburgers have already made life difficult for this season. The matchday news.
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Welcome to Leverkusen, Rafaela Borggräfe. Bayer 04 have signed the goalkeeper on loan from Liverpool until the end of the season. Bayer04.de profiles the 25-year-old.
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