The ZDF show has been running since 1963 and always ends with a goal wall challenge. "Three at the bottom, three at the top" will be heard again late on Saturday evenings when the ZDF presenter Jochen Breyer asks the former top striker to take on a challenger. Before that, Breyer and Rudi Völler will discuss the results of the Saturday matches, talk about the run-in and look forward to the forthcoming Bundesliga match against Eintracht Frankfurt on Monday 2 May. Remaining tickets for the game are available from the Bayer 04 ticket shop.
The 62-year-old showed what's needed for shots from seven yards in March 1985. Back then a player with Werder Bremen, his five strikes put him right at the top of the list. A record that Völler now shares with just eight of the goal wall marksmen. One of those to clock up five with a Bayer 04 past is Reinhard Saftig who was the coach at Leverkusen from July 1991 to May 1993. He achieved that masterpiece in October 1991 and is the only goal wall marksman with the Werkself at the time up to now.
In addition to Völler and Saftig, a large number of other Leverkusen players and managers have sat at the interview table on the 'aktuelles sportstudio' programme. Erich Ribbeck, who coached the Werkself to win the UEFA Cup in 1988, faced questions from the presenters in around 30 broadcasts. A couple fewer visits were made by Christoph Daum who was in the Bayer 04 dugout for 185 games between 1996 and 2000.
The most recent guest from the Werkself on 20 November 2021 was midfield maestro Robert Andrich. The 27-year-old midfielder made his way to Mainz after the 1-0 home win against VfL Bochum on matchday 12. The Bayer 04 number eight sank one of six attempts in the goal wall challenge.
The Bayer 04 women’s team secured a win in the friendly during the international break. Without a total of eight international players, coach Roberto Pätzold’s team defeated Bundesliga 2 side Borussia Mönchengladbach 3–1 at the Kurtekotten Training Centre, thanks to goals from Lobke Loonen (1’, penalty), Caroline Kehrer (41') and Valentina Mädl (66').
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Bayer 04 will have to manage without striker Christian Kofane in the coming weeks. The 20-year-old sustained a muscle injury to his left thigh on international duty with the Cameroon national team during the recent international break. This will prevent him from playing in the upcoming Werkself matches.
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FSV Mainz 05 went into the international break on the back of an away win at Borussia Mönchengladbach. Currently sixth in the table, the Rheinhessen side – who have been impressive on the road – now aim to continue their good start to the Bundesliga campaign at home when they face the Werkself on Saturday, 10 October (kick-off: 15:30 CEST). In terms of squad selection, Urs Fischer once again has more options at his disposal. Up front, the Mainz coach is likely to continue relying on what is currently the league’s most successful strike partnership. The lowdown on our next opponents.
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Exciting experiences and exclusive insights into the Werkself and the BayArena awaited the young footballers from the BA04 Football Academy Guangzhou in China during their visit to the Rhineland this week. As well as taking part in a joint training session with the Bayer 04 Football Academy, the youngsters marvelled at the Bundesliga club’s stadium during a guided tour. The highlight of the visit was a private press conference with former Bayer 04 striker Stefan Kießling, during which he shared tips from his own career with the young players. On Saturday afternoon, 10 October, the group will round off their visit by supporting the Werkself in the away match in Mainz.
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Fans ask, Carolin Simon answers: As part of Bayer 04’s second Ask Me Anything (AMA) session on Reddit, the Leverkusen captain took questions from the community. The full-back, who returned to the club this summer after ten years away, set aside an hour and a half for the Q&A session with fans, offering a very personal insight into, amongst other things, her daily life as a footballer and her role as captain, as well as her passion for Pokémon.
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