
The large number of fans, who made their way to the BayArena on the first day of the Easter holidays, were able to watch all the players with the exception of the two long-term absentees Karim Bellarabi and Joel Pohjanpalo – the captain Lars Bender, who was not in the squad for the Stuttgart game on Saturday, took part in the 70-minute session that focused on stamina work. Ahead of the duel against Nürnberg, the Werkself have another open session tomorrow before the Black and Reds continue preparing for the next home game behind closed doors on Thursday.
Kai Havertz was the only Werkself player to be included in the German Football League (bundesliga.de) Team of the Day on matchday 29. The primary reason was his third converted penalty of the season in the Bundesliga that proved to be the winner in the 1-0 victory over Stuttgart – no other player has achieved that at his age (19 years, 306 days). It was also goal number 13 of the season for Havertz who made his 100th appearance for the Werkself in Stuttgart on Saturday (including 83 in the Bundesliga). But that's not all: the young national player has netted his 20th goal in the league – only Horst Köppel achieved that at a younger age (19 years, 241 days; in 1966/67).
Last week, Bayer 04 received the 'Digital Champions Award' in the 'Digital Customer Experience' category. An internal (staff) app for the improvement of the stadium experience at the BayArena was assessed. With the help of the app, a large number of the members of staff at home games are supplied with important information via smartphones or tablets and, for example, it makes checking the kiosks easier. The 'Digital Champions Award' is an award for the German growth market in the area of digitisation and transformation and the target is to reward the most significant projects of SMEs and reach a wide audience.

Despite a major personnel shake-up in the summer, RB Leipzig have performed impressively this term. Ahead of matchday 15, coach Ole Werner's team are second in the Bundesliga with a three-point lead over their upcoming opponents Bayer 04. This Saturday, 20 December (kick-off: 18:30 CET), the Werkself are away to RBL who are strong at home. The lowdown on our next opponents.
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This year - for the third time - the parents of the Bayer 04 youth players from the U8 to U15 age groups once again took part in the WDR Christmas Miracle. Under the motto "Goals against hunger in the world - parents in goal!", they organised their own fundraising campaign to once again actively support the important WDR campaign. The sum of €3,420 was handed over at the Glashaus in Essen in the middle of the week during the live programme.
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On Tuesday evening, Bayer 04's main sponsor BarmeniaGothaer and its employees welcomed some very special visitors to the company's Christmas market at its headquarters in Wuppertal: Werkself players Robert Andrich, Mark Flekken, Loïc Badé, Jarell Quansah and Malik Tillman spent lots of time with Bayer 04 fans of all ages in the early evening – and also helped to serve drinks such as Glühwein (mulled wine) and delicious food.
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The Leverkusen eSports players picked up just one point on Tuesday 16 December in the remaining three matches of the online preliminary round of Showdown Three in the VBL Club Championship 2025/26. As a result, the #B04eSports team once again miss out on going through to the offline knockout phase and now head into the winter break.
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen has always stood for ambition, development, and progress. In recent years, these values have been reflected not only on the pitch, but beyond it. The Werkself continues to grow — regionally, nationally, and now more than ever internationally — and the recent visit from a delegation of our newest international fan club, Bayer4Arab, is a powerful example of this journey.
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