The players, coaches and staff met up early in the morning at the BayArena for a communal breakfast. Then it was off to Cologne/Bonn Airport with flight X3 8904 taking off from German soil at exactly 09.24 CET. Frankfurt, Budapest and Istanbul were overflown and the Boeing 737 landed in Tel Aviv at 13.15 CET.
On matchday 3 in the Europa League the Werkself play Hapoel Be’er Sheva in Petach Tikva, a few kilometres east of the city, on Thursday 5 November (kick-off: 18.55 CET).
As in the 6-2 home win against Nice, head coach Peter Bosz has included youth team striker Emrehan Gedikli in his squad. Absentees are Charles Aránguiz, Patrik Schick and Paulinho plus Santiago Arias, who are all injured or in rehab. Also missing is Karim Bellarabi following his red card in the 1-0 defeat against Slavia Prague. Right-back Mitchell Weiser has not been registered for the Europa League.
While Tel Aviv may well be unknown territory for some of the Werkself players, Bosz knows it really well – and he is not the only one in the Bayer 04 group. The 56-year-old took over the helm at the top Israeli team Maccabi Tel Aviv in January 2016. At his side like today: assistant coach Hendrie Krüzen. In the summer of this year, the Dutchman answered the call from the top club Ajax and he returned home to the Netherlands.
Rob Maas, again assistant coach to Bosz, filled the same role at Maccabi Haifa as the number two to Fred Rutten from the end of 2017 to November 2018. Maas was also caretaker coach for one game in November 2018.
But back to the forthcoming clash between the Werkself and Be’er Sheva: On Wednesday afternoon, Hapoel head coach Yossi Abukasis talked about the game against the Werkself. “We’ve had two games against strong opponents. Leverkusen are another top team we have to play. They have a great team,” said the 50-year-old who also emphasised: “But we also have a very good squad. Our previous results in the Europa League have been decent.” Be’er Sheva secured a surprise 3-1 win in the opening match against Slavia Prague. There was a narrow 1-0 defeat in the second game at Nice.
The experienced international referee Radu Petrescu is in charge of the first competitive match for the Werkself in Israel. The 37-year-old Rumanian is assisted by his fellow countrymen Radu Ghinguleac and Mircea Grigoriu. Petrescu has already refereed Bayer 04 in the Champions League away game at Lokomotive Moscow with the Black and Reds winning 2-0.
Four Bayer 04 players are in action at the 35th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations being played in Morocco from 21 December to 18 January 2026: Eliesse Ben Seghir for the hosts, Edmond Tapsoba with Burkina Faso, Ibrahim Maza for Algeria and Christian Kofane with Cameroon. Updates on the AFCON matches involving Werkself players...
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen will have to manage without goalkeeper Mark Flekken and forward Nathan Tella for the time being.
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After a week in the Algarve, the Bayer 04 Women returned home on Saturday afternoon. The Werkself had six training sessions, two friendlies and a lot of time together as a team. Roberto Pätzold's team will be back in action in the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga next Friday for the start of matchday 15.
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"We didn’t make the right decision at the right moments," said captain Robert Andrich after the 1-0 defeat away to TSG Hoffenheim, where Bayer 04 endeavoured to control the game but failed to score. The Werkself also had two enforced substitutions due to injuries. Nevertheless, the coach, captain and debutant Janis Blaswich are positive about the coming weeks. The Werkself review.
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Werkself TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04's 0-1 loss at TSG Hoffenheim on Matchday 18 of the 2025/26 Bundesliga season...
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