As at the training camp in Salzburger Land, Fernando Carro wanted to introduce himself to the fans. Together with Rudi Völler (sporting managing director), the Werkself head coach Heiko Herrlich and club captain Lars Bender, the new chairman of the Bayer 04 board took the opportunity to get close to the fans in Q&A session – which also included some tough questions from the fans.
The subjects under discussion included the allocation of the number 11 shirt to Isaac Kiese Thelin, which was worn by club legend Stefan Kießling up to the summer. In spite of fully understanding the disquiet of certain sections of the Bayer 04 support, Lars Bender called for everybody to get behind the new signing. Particularly as the Swede said it was "a great honour" to be able to wear the number worn by Kießling for many years. The skipper drew loud applause for that statement.
"It's good to be asked critical questions from time to time. We can only get to the bottom of things when we know what our fans are thinking," said Herrlich before adding: "We have every reason to be thankful as the support was brilliant last season: We experienced great backing all the way – also at times when it wasn't going that well. For example, I can think of the game at Köln, which was a disaster for all of us on the pitch. Despite that, our fans gave us great support again the following week. That gave us a real boost."
After the hour-long discussion at the BayArena, the fans moved on to the beer garden on the north side of the ground to round off the event in a sociable atmosphere. Fernando Carro, Meinolf Sprink (community affairs and fans director) were there too along with the team from the Fan House represented by Frank Linde, Andreas Paffrath and Rüdiger Vollborn to chat with the fans. "It's really important to get together as we all share the same aim: We want to be successful on the pitch. In order to achieve that sporting success it's important for our fans to support the team in good as well as difficult times," said Carro.
The Werkself training camp officially began early on Tuesday morning with the landing in Rio de Janeiro. Ahead of the first session in the afternoon local time, bayer04.de profiles the talented youngsters from the youth teams who have travelled to Brazil.
Show morePreparations for the 2025/26 season are in full swing with the new head coach Erik ten Hag working for the start of the season in the middle of August. After the timings for the first matchdays in the forthcoming Bundesliga season were confirmed a few days ago, we now provide information on the first sale phase for match tickets. The early booker phase, exclusively for Bayer 04 Club members, brings some changes. Read on for further information.
Show moreBayer 04 are away to SG Sonnenhof Großaspach in the first round of the 2025/26 DFB Pokal. The match is on Friday, 15 August (kick-off: 18:00 CEST) at the WIRmachenDRUCK Arena. Read on for the latest ticket information.
Show moreBayer 04 Leverkusen will partner closely with parent-company Bayer during its preseason tour to Brazil from July 14 to 24 this month. The backing from Bayer of the “Bayer 04 Brasil Tour” has been crucial in organizing the groundbreaking training camp for ten days, plus a host of local activities and community events capped by the match against Flamengo's U20 team on July 18 at Estádio da Gávea.
Show moreThe bags are packed and Bayer 04 will set off for Brazil in a few hours. Over the next ten days, the team led by head coach Erik ten Hag will be the first Bundesliga side to hold a training camp in the country of the five-time World Cup winners. The Werkself will train at Flamengo’s Campus Ninho do Urubu under the motto ‘Esquenta!’ (warm up) and play a friendly against the U20 team of the world-famous club. Read on for training camp timetable.
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