"It's an absolutely disappointing result," was the remorseless assessment of Heiko Herrlich. "Bonn grew stronger after making it 2-1. It's almost as if we were begging for the equaliser. One or two players might have thought they could manage with 50 per cent effort. But that's not enough – even though you can't forget that we're in the pre-season," added the clearly unhappy Bayer 04 coach.
Herrlich again had to make do without the Confed Cup participants (Bernd Leno, Benjamin Henrichs, Julian Brandt, Chicharito, Charles Aranguiz). In addition, Ramalho, Lars Bender and Stefan Kießling were rested as were Jonathan Tah and U21 European Champion Dominik Kohr having just returned from holiday. New signing Sven Bender, greeted with loud applause from the 1,400 supporters in the Sportpark Nord, made his debut in a Werkself shirt.
The Werkself were first out of the blocks against the Regional League side driven on by the lively and impressive Kevin Kampl, Leon Bailey and Karim Bellarabi. And the deadlock was broken on nine minutes: Kampl broke through into the Bonn penalty area after a backheel from Bailey and made no mistake as he put the Werkself 1-0 up. Herrlich's men were creating chance after chance as the game went on. However, Julian Baumgartlinger, Kai Havertz, Kevin Volland and Bellarabi were unable to put the ball in the back of the 'Rhine Lions' net. Bonn were lucky to go into half-time just one goal down.
Herrlich made eight changes at half-time but opted to continue with Kampl, Baumgartlinger and goalkeeper Niklas Lomb. As in the first 45 minutes, the Werkself continued to dominate the game but failed to convert a number of clear-cut chances. The Black and Reds finally went 2-0 up on 65 minutes when Yurchenko converted a penalty.
The hosts surprisingly pulled a goal back six minutes later through Joran Sobiech. The team coached by former Leverkusen youth coach Daniel Zillken, who start their league campaign next week, grew ever stronger and looked dangerous on the break. The Werkself appeared to fade and attacking moves dwindled. The inevitable happened with four minutes to play: Bonn's Jannick Stoffels hit a 40-yard drive into the bottom left corner of the Bayer 04 goal – to level at 2-2.
The next friendly for the Werkself is on Sunday (14.30 CET) away to second division SV Sandhausen. The Bayer 04 pros then head off to the training camp in Zell am See on Monday.
Bayer 04: Lomb – Bednarczyk (Frey 46’), Dragovic (Akkaynak 46’), S. Bender (Abu Hanna 46’), Wendell (Handwerker 46’) – Baumgartlinger, Kampl – Bellarabi (Schreck 46’), Bailey (Mehmedi 46’) – Havertz (Yurchenko 46’), Volland (Pohjanpalo 46’).
Whether it's sport or his private live: Captain Edmond Tapsoba tells us his top three personal favourites in twelve categories in edition #56 of the Werkself Magazine. The defender had to answer as quickly as he reacts on the pitch. 'On the Podium' with Edmond Tapsoba!
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“Year after year, this is an incredibly valuable gathering, both in terms of the content covered and the opportunity for mutual discussion,” stressed Bayer 04 goalkeeping coach David Thiel in his welcoming address at this year’s goalkeeping coaches’ meeting. This was the third time in four seasons that the event had been held at the BayArena. Organised by the German Football Association (DFB), the meeting brought together goalkeeping coaches from the Bundesliga, Bundesliga 2 and the 3rd division from the west region. For the first time this year, goalkeeping coaches from the youth performance centres (NLZ) were also present. Bayer 04 fitness coach Markus Müller provided fascinating insights into the specific fitness training carried out with the Werkself’s goalkeepers.
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A floodlit derby, two further night games and a top-of-the-table clash on a Saturday afternoon: The German Football Association (DFB) has confirmed the exact dates for four further matchdays in the Google Pixel Women’s Bundesliga. This means all fixtures for the Bayer 04 women’s team up to the end of the year, as well as the first two in 2027, are now confirmed.
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It was another incredibly close call in the end: The second showdown in the 2026/27 VBL Club Championship saw the #B04eSports team once again narrowly miss out on a place in the top 16 of the preliminary round – and with it, a spot in the in-person knockout stage. It was a bitter blow: Marc and Sean Landwehr again fell just short, despite being level on points with their rivals. As was the case last month, their weaker record across the twelve individual matches in the six preliminary round fixtures proved decisive.
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Several Werkself players are set to represent their national teams during the final international break of 2026. Here’s an overview of who has been called up and the matches they will face in November. This article will be updated regularly.
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