What's written on Stefan Kießling's shin pads? How many metres of piping are used for the undersoil heating? And what do rope access technicians see that normal fans don't? A team of photographers photographed nearly every corner of the BayArena on ten different days last season. The, in part, breathtaking aerial shots were taken using a 19 kilo drone and from a small propeller plane. The result was 16,000 photographs whittled down to 850 with 200 finally making it into the book.
"A stadium is like having a house: It's never finished and there is always something to do," explained Michael Schade. The Bayer 04 Leverkusen CEO was the instigator of this ambitious photographic project. A visual homage to this historic location that has been home to Bayer 04 players and supporters for over 60 years.
The last major reconstruction project was completed in 2009. Since then 48 rows of seats have been capped by an artistic roof structure whose 28,000 m² Makrolon layer protects the spectators from rain and gives the stadium a venerable appearance. Over 1,000 games have already been played at Bismarckstraße. And, although there are regularly 250 members of the media present, there are still many almost undiscovered nooks and crannies plus innumerable fascinating perspectives.
24 hours at the BayArena – that's the name of this illustrated book that also includes a compact overview of the history of the stadium and plenty of statistics on the club. And it is also a recommended read for anybody who also wants to know how many watts are used on lighting the pitch in the winter or how cold it is in the cold chamber at the 'Werkstatt'. In short: '24 hours at the BayArena' is a must for anybody wanting to understand the stadium.
The book has an initial run of 3,000 copies. It is available from the Bayer 04 shops as well as the Online Shop priced at €49.90.
From the 2027/28 season, the Women’s Bundesliga will be organised by an independent league association. Following the unanimous decision taken at the DFB Bundestag (national conference) on Friday afternoon, the league’s separation from the DFB is now official.
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Following the Bundesliga clash against RB Leipzig (Sunday, 20 September, 15:30 CEST), some of the Werkself first team players will be heading off for the first international break of the season. Here is an overview of the Bayer 04 players called up for their national teams and all the details of their upcoming matches.
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A special visit to the BayArena: 222 members from volunteer fire brigades in Leverkusen, the Rheinisch-Bergisch district and the Oberbergisch district watched the Werkself’s 2–0 home win over Slovenian champions NK Celje live in the stadium. Bayer 04 had invited them to the 2026/27 Europa League opener as a thank-you for their tremendous dedication. They watched the match together in Block F4.
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The Werkself were feeling quite satisfied following their 2–0 home win in their opening match of the 2026/27 UEFA Europa League, particularly with the result. At the same time, players and coaches agreed that, in terms of their performance, there was “still room for improvement”, as Robert Andrich put it. For his part, Moussa Diaby emphasised the importance of the victory with which the team had kicked off the campaign, and spoke personally about how good it felt to have started in front of the “wonderful” Bayer 04 fans this Tuesday evening for the first time since his return. The Werkself review of the Europa League opener.
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