Basaksehir, managed by the former Turkey coach Abdullah Avci, have experienced a massive upturn in fortune over recent years and have broken into the leading group of the big three Istanbul clubs Galatasaray, Fenerbahce and Besiktas. Last term's Süper Lig saw them finish third just three points behind champions Galatasaray and this September they are in the UEFA Europa League along with Bayer 04. Before that, they were runners-up once and finished fourth twice.
The squad has a number of internationally experienced pros: Goalkeeper Volkan Babacan, Arda Turan (100 internationals for Turkey and previously in Spain at Barcelona and Atlético Madrid), Emre (95 international caps for Turkey), Gökhan Inler (89 caps for Switzerland), Gael Clichy (18 internationals for France) and the Togo striker Emmanuel Adebayor, top scorer for Basaksehirs last season with 15 goals and for many years in the Premier League at Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester City and Arsenal. Familiar faces from the Bundesliga are the Serb Milos Jojic, signed this week from FC Köln, the Brazilian Junior Caicara (Schalke 04) plus Eljero Elia, who played for Werder Bremen and Hamburg.
Before that, Bayer 04 have friendly fixtures against SV Roßbach (18 July), Sportfreunde Siegen (21 July), Wuppertaler SV (24 July) and Fortuna Sittard (28 July). Following the training camp in Austria there is a match against Valencia (11 August).
His loss has left Bayer 04 deeply saddened: Dieter Herzog, World Cup winner in 1974 and seven years playing for Bayer 04, passed away this week at the age of 79.
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A week after the disappointing DFB Pokal exit at Hamburger SV, the Bayer 04 Women return to league action. In a home match against SGS Essen on Saturday, 22 November (kick-off: 14:00 CET at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium), coach Roberto Pätzold's team will be fighting to maintain a good position in the chasing pack in the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga.
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Tickets are on sale for the last two Bayer 04 Women's team home games in 2025. Fans can now purchase tickets for the matches at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium against RB Leipzig and the final fixture of the year in the Rückrunde opener against German champions Bayern Munich. The latest information at a glance.
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Eliminated ahead of the offline round: On Tuesday, 18 November, the Leverkusen console pros played the two remaining matches in the online preliminary round of showdown two. After picking up six points from the first four games last week, the #B04eSports team bagged another three in the two final duels - but it wasn't enough. The Leverkusen team missed out on a place in the offline knockout round, which will take place in this second showdown on 23 November in Frankfurt am Main.
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Several Bayer 04 players are currently away with their respective national teams in the final international break of 2025, with most of them involved in qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico. Our blog will keep you up to date on the matches involving the Werkself.
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