The Werkself players wore the new home shirt for the 2023/24 season with the cross on the chest for the first time in the match at the Spanish Champions League club. A badge marking the charity match on the front of the shirt was another highlight. The shirt auction raised €16,739. The top seller at the auction was the shirt worn by Florian Wirtz with a value of over €4,000.
The money raised will be used to carry out the first clinical study in Europe on the treatment of SPG50. Children from Spain and Germany will take part in this clinical study, which will build on a study previously carried out in the USA. Javier Garcia, president of the Columbus Foundation, said: "The Columbus Foundation thanks Bayer 04 for their great support. This enables us to start the second clinical study at the beginning of next year. The families of the children affected have great hopes in the study for the treatment of this previously incurable disease."
The Fundación Columbus:
The Columbus Children’s Foundation has the mission of raising funds for research into rare diseases and to find treatments for these through gene therapy. The friendly against the Champions League team from La Liga is specifically part of the battle against spastic paraplegia 50 (SPG 50). This rare neuromuscular disease affects a very limited number of children with symptoms including developmental delay, mental incapacity and changes to or absence of speech.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen have signed 16-year-old midfield prospect Gabriel Minutillo on a long-term contract. The Germany youth international will play for the U19s this season.
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Bayer 04 preparations for the 2026/27 season are in full swing, with the first friendly now under their belts. Although there are still around seven weeks to go until the first Bundesliga home game in early September, there is already huge anticipation for the start of competitive action for head coach Carles Martínez’s team at the BayArena. For the Bundesliga home matches of the new season, here is the latest information regarding the first phase of single-match ticket sales. The tried-and-tested early-bird phase remains in place. From 23 to 31 July, tickets for matches will go on sale on weekdays; the early-bird phase ends on 5 August at the latest – provided tickets are still available by then.
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Like last year, Bayer 04 Women held their summer training camp in Rieden. Coach Roberto Pätzold gives his assessment of the time in the Upper Palatinate, discusses the integration of the 11 new players and the unusual team building measures, gives his thoughts on the friendly and looks ahead to the start of the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga season in August.
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Just in time for the start of the summer holidays in North Rhine-Westphalia, the Werkself will hold another open training session on Tuesday 21 July. The session at the BayArena is scheduled to start at 11:00 CEST and will again be available to watch in a live stream. The fans who are there can look forward to a very special surprise.
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Bayer 04 Women rounded off their one-week training camp in the Upper Palatinate with their second friendly win of pre-season. Coach Roberto Pätzold's side beat Czech top-flight outfit Slovan Liberec 6-0 in a match consisting of 4 x 30 minutes. Maja Sternad (8'), Caroline Kehrer (55'), Natasha Kowalski (67', 84') with two direct free kicks, Valentina Mädl (97') and Justine Brandau (107') scored the goals for Leverkusen at 1.FC Rieden's Fenstertechnik-Weinfurtner-Arena.
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