There was a change of personnel at the hosts at the start of the season: The club management at Mainz opted to change coaches after the second Bundesliga matchday. Achim Beierlorzer had to go after two defeats in the opening games and assistant coach Jan-Moritz Lichte took over the helm at Mainz 05. The former Werkself assistant coach under Sascha Lewandowski and Sami Hyypiä is looking to get the team back to winning ways – his opposite number Bosz obviously has something to say about that. Mainz have a lot of quality in their squad. It’s down to us to see that it takes another week before that is evident on the pitch,” the Dutchman declared.
In addition to Paulinho, who continues his rehab training following his torn cruciate, Bosz will have to manage without other players following the international break: Summer signing Santiago Arias suffered a broken leg and complex ligament damage to his ankle in a World Cup qualifier with Colombia and is set to be out of action for around six months.
The 56-year-old will also be without the services of Patrik Schick, who is struggling with a muscle injury. With Florian Wirtz, who was substituted in the middle of the first half of the Euro qualifier for the Germany U21s against Bosnia-Herzegovina, there is no evidence of a structural injury to his stomach muscles. The 17-year-old is already on the road to recovery. “But he probably won’t be available for us against Mainz,” said Bosz
In addition, Tin Jedvaj will also most probably have to miss out. The defender was not in the squad for Croatia’s 2-1 defeat against France on Wednesday night due to illness. The results of a coronavirus test proved to be negative and Jedvaj is now feeling better again.
In accordance with the regulations, the players returning from international duty undertook coronavirus tests at the BayArena on Thursday morning. Another round of tests will be performed on Friday morning. If the results are negative then the players can then take part in training and join the Bayer 04 group to travel to Mainz to hopefully play on Saturday and help secure the sixth Bundesliga win in succession against Mainz 05.
Match information:
Broadcasters: Sky and Werks11 Radio (bayer04.de)
Referee: The match officials will be announced on the day the game
Attendance: 250
Strengthening the Bayer 04 Leverkusen youth teams: Konstantinos Kotsifakis will join the Werkself from Bundesliga 2 club Hertha Berlin for the 2026/27 season, where he will be a permanent member of the Leverkusen U19 coaching set-up. The German-Greek will also take on an operational role in coaching the Bayer 04 Future Team. The 29-year-old was most recently head coach of the U17s at Hertha Berlin.
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Another award for the Bayer 04 head groundsman and staff: After coming top in the 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2024/25 seasons, the BayArena pitch came second in the Bundesliga Pitch of the Year ranking for the 2025/26 season. VfL Wolfsburg secured the top spot this year, with TSG Hoffenheim in third place.
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Opening opponents, derby weekends, the opponents in the season finale: This information and more will be available to Bayer 04 fans on Thursday, 2 July, when the 2026/27 Bundesliga fixture list is published.
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The next footballing highlight is just around the corner: the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the 23rd edition of the tournament, will be held in the USA, Canada and Mexico and feature 48 teams for the first time. Bayer04.de has all the latest on the Werkself players called up to represent their countries.
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While the majority of the Bayer 04 Women are enjoying their summer break, nine Werkself players will be on duty for their national teams in the coming days. Three of them are competing for a place at the World Cup, while six are involved in two friendlies with the Germany U23 team.
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