The Swiss manager sees the as yet unbeaten third division side as a team with "lots of qualities." The 43-year-old ranks both the Elversberg squad and their style of play as impressive: "They try to get forward but also defend very well as a group at the same time."
Like the Werkself, the Saarlander squad has more or less remained intact. "That can have advantages and disadvantages as we know very well ourselves. On the one hand, you're already well drilled and can build on things but, on the other hand, it's obviously easier for the opponent to work you out," said Seoane and he set a clear target for the first competitive match of the new season: "We take this and every competition absolutely seriously. The DFB Cup is something special, we want to aim for the maximum and excite the fans."
The idea is to primarily focus on our own game: "We need determination and aggression to come out on top," said Seoane.
The Werkself players trained intensively up to Wednesday with the workload reduced on Thursday and Friday, "to stay mentally and physically fresh," Seoane explained before adding: "Of course, there is room for improvement here and there but the team and the way they go about things day by day gives us a very positive impression as the coaching staff."
Seoane almost has his whole squad to choose from for the DFB Cup tie. All players are available with the exception of long-standing absentees Florian Wirtz and Amine Adli. Adli is currently in the final phases of rehab training and he has already been able to complete parts of team training.
Seoane: "The pre-season has been satisfactory without incident and with some good friendlies. I have 22 players who have the ability and the quality to be in the starting eleven and I'm looking forward to an exciting season."
IA total of 1,229 Black and Red fans will make the journey to Saarland on Saturday to support the Werkself at the URSAPHARM Arena.
A day later back in Leverkusen, Bayer 04 invite all Black and Red fans to the season launch at the BayArena (car park P3) from 10.30 CEST. Both the Bundesliga Women's team and the Werkself will be presented on the stage. In addition to a number of interviews, including with the chairman of the board Fernando Carro and the sporting managing director Simon Rolfes, there will be a large number of stands offering a varied range of activities for young and old alike.
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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