There is great excitement at Bayer 04 ahead of the last game for the Werkself this season. Given the points parity and the three-goal worse goal difference with fourth placed TSG Hoffenheim (at home to Borussia Dortmund) the last match of the season is not just about three points or three goals but also about three additional letters. To be more exact, it's about the competition Bayer 04 will be playing in next term: Champions League or Europa League. "I think about calculations like that too. But that doesn't achieve anything. We have to concentrate on ourselves – and winning the game against Hannover will be hard enough," said head coach Heiko Herrlich late on Monday afternoon.
As in recent weeks, the boss only involved the substitutes from the Bremen match on the training ground with the starting eleven and team-mates recovering from injury working at the BayArena. One exception was Dominik Kohr. The number 21 was – for at least around 60 minutes – with the two goalkeepers Ramazan Özcan and Niklas Lomb plus Lucas Alario, Karim Bellarabi, Benjamin Henrichs, Marlon Frey, Vladlen Yurchenko and Stefan Kießling in bright sunshine and summer temperatures on the training ground. For Kies it was the start of his last week as a pro before ending his playing career on Saturday against Hannover.
Positive news about Jonathan Tah. The 22-year-old is on the verge of returning to full training this week after his hip injury and Herrlich is confident about a possible appearance against Hannover. The same applies to Leon Bailey and Wendell, who were substituted at Bremen due to muscular problems. The captain Lars Bender and his brother Sven completed individual sessions on the training ground on Monday morning but it remains to be seen whether they will be available for the last game of the season. There is less optimism regarding Joel Pohjanpalo who is still in rehab training following an ankle injury.
The Werkself have two open training sessions this week (Tuesday and Wednesday, each at 10.30 CET) before a closed session on Thursday for final preparations ahead of the Hannover match.
Video game producer Electronic Arts (EA) has announced the nominees for the Men's and Women's Team of the Year (TOTY) for EA Sports FC 26. With Patrik Schick and Alejandro Grimaldo for the men and Vanessa Fudalla for the women, there are three Bayer 04 players included. Fans of the Black-and-Reds can vote for each top XI of 2025 from now until 18:59 CET on Monday 12 January.
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The long-standing successful collaboration between Bayer 04 and the transport service provider wupsi GmbH has been expanded: From January 2026, 100 wupsi bikes with Bayer 04 branding will be available for hire throughout the city of Leverkusen. They will complement the many existing offers and services that provide key support, especially for fans travelling to and from home matches at the BayArena.
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The Werkself are back! Following the two-week winter break, head coach Kasper Hjulmand's team began the new year with an open session on Sunday. After Robert Andrich and his teammates arrived in Leverkusen yesterday for the official check-in, they got back down to business a day later in front of around 1,200 fans at the Ulrich Haberland Stadion. The report from the Werkself's first session of 2026.
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In her debut season of 2024/25, Cornelia Kramer immediately became the top scorer for Bayer 04 Women. However, the Danish national team striker was stopped by an injury at the start of the new season. Now, just in time before the end of last year, she is fit again – and has extended her contract early until 2027. In this interview, the 23-year-old talks about the reasons for her decision and looks ahead.
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