Just before 10:30 this morning: Gerardo Seoane plus his two assistant coaches Patrick Schnarwiler and Alberto Encinas, were the first on the training pitch one. Before they went on to the pitch, the trio had a chat with the youngest of the Bayer 04 supporters present. After the session, Seoane talked about fans returning to the training ground: "It's particularly great for the children to be able to be so close the players, have their photos taken with them and be able to get their autographs. We are very happy that the fans came to see us."
The Werkself players were led out onto the pitch fifteen minutes later by Kerem Demirbay and Timothy Fosu-Mensah. The duo were fully fit at the first session after recovering from injuries in the closing stages of last season and they were joined by Jeremie Frimpong and Karim Bellarabi.
The 75-minute session began with different warm-up drills and then the focus was primarily on working with the ball. A relaxed but concentrated start for the Werkself with youngsters Zidan Sertdemir and Iker Bravo joined by the youth players Ayman Aourir, Christian Schwieren, Noah Pesch, Ingyom Jung, Jardell Kanga plus goalkeeper Maximilian Neutgens. Also involved were the players returning from loan in Ayman Azhil (RKC Waalwijk/Netherlands) and Mitchell Weiser (Werder Bremen) plus U19 new signing Madi Monamay, who joined Leverkusen a few days ago from KRC Genk.
Nadiem Amiri, who played for the Italian club CFC Genoa on loan in the second half of last season, trained in the facilities at the BayArena. Paulinho has been ill recently but, according to Seoane on Monday, " he should be back on the plane as soon as possible." In addition, Charles Aránguiz had problems with his return flight from South America and the Chile international is expected to return to Leverkusen in the middle of the week.
As with the first training session of the summer, the other Werkself sessions this week are open to the fans. Up to Saturday, Seoane will be working with Andrich and Co. on the training ground at the BayArena every day at 10.30 CEST with two other sessions planned for 15.00 CEST on Tuesday and Thursday. Wednesday’s training will be held inside the BayArena on Wednesday rather than on the training ground.
Please note: Changes can be made at short notice and Bayer 04 will inform fans of any such changes via the club channels.
In their third friendly of this pre-season, Bayer 04 played on home soil for the first time – and won there too! The Werkself claimed a comfortable 4-0 victory against Belgian top-flight side KRC Genk at the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion. Jeanuel Belocian (9’) and Nathan Tella (42’) gave a dominant Leverkusen a 2-0 lead at the break, which Afonso Moreira (51’) and Christian Kofane (53’) doubled after the break. Among the many second-half substitutions was Patrik Schick, who made his first friendly appearance of the summer.
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The Werkself are finally back. On Saturday 8 August, Bayer 04 kick off the 2026/27 campaign with their opening match. But there’s far more than just a double-header in store for Werkself supporters. True to the motto ‘One day. Two teams. One club’, the BayArena and the Ulrich Haberland Stadium will be transformed into a world of excitement.
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The Werkself continue their 2026/27 pre-season preparations with their third friendly against Belgian top-flight side KRC Genk at the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion on Wednesday 29 July (kick-off 15:00 CEST). Werkself-TV is broadcasting the match live and in full in a stream from 14:50 CEST...
After the children from the Bayer 04 Football Academy grilled Janis Blaswich and Simeon Rapsch last week, another group of 20 young Werkself fans gathered at the BayArena press conference room on Tuesday afternoon, 28 July . This time, the kids directed their questions at Tim Oermann and Jonah Berghoff. Defender Oermann raved about his school days, whilst talented midfielder Berghoff revealed to the young footballers, amongst other things, who his favourite player is – and he is also at Bayer 04. To round things off, the pair naturally obliged with all requests for autographs and selfies.
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Bayer 04 are back on the pitch. Following the first training sessions, the Werkself play the first pre-season friendly on Saturday, July 18. The match against Oberliga club Sportfreunde Baumberg kicks off at 15:30 CEST in Monheim am Rhein. Fans unable to attend the match can watch head coach Carles Martínez’s first game in charge for free via a livestream at bayer04.de and on the Bayer 04 app, as well as on Werkself.tv (exclusively for members). Just log on and watch the games live. All the other Werkself preseason friendlies leading up to the 2026/27 season will also be streamed live for free.
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