The players and staff left the BayArena on time at nine in the morning. Goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky and striker Lucas Alario, who was recently injured, rejoined the team. Youngsters Joshua Eze, Christian Schwieren, Sadik Fofana, Noah Pesch, Ayman Aourir, goalkeeper Maximilian Neutgens and Zidan Sertdemir were also on board on the way to Austria. Julian Baumgartlinger, who was in action at the European Championships like Hradecky, is expected at the training camp at the beginning of next week.
The flight is due to land in Salzburg at 11.40 CEST and, after arrival at the hotel and a communal meal, the first training session at the Alois Latini Stadium in Zell am See is at 16.00 CEST. Sporting director Simon Rolfes' assessment of Salzburger Land, "outstanding conditions. We really feel at home there. Particularly as the training camp had to be cancelled last year we are looking forward to Zell am See and Kaprun even more. Everybody knows each other, the organisation on site has always been wonderful in the many years we've been there. The hotel, training ground and everything else will be perfect again."
After intensive workouts in numerous sessions over the week, the Werkself finish this year's training camp with the first pre-season friendly. Bayer 04 play SC Freiburg on the day of departure (23 July). The two Bundesliga teams meet at the Wattens Gernot Langes Stadium at 14.00 CEST. After the game, the team and support staff will fly back to Germany from Innsbruck.
“Year after year, this is an incredibly valuable gathering, both in terms of the content covered and the opportunity for mutual discussion,” stressed Bayer 04 goalkeeping coach David Thiel in his welcoming address at this year’s goalkeeping coaches’ meeting. This was the third time in four seasons that the event had been held at the BayArena. Organised by the German Football Association (DFB), the meeting brought together goalkeeping coaches from the Bundesliga, Bundesliga 2 and the 3rd division from the west region. For the first time this year, goalkeeping coaches from the youth performance centres (NLZ) were also present. Bayer 04 fitness coach Markus Müller provided fascinating insights into the specific fitness training carried out with the Werkself’s goalkeepers.
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It was another incredibly close call in the end: The second showdown in the 2026/27 VBL Club Championship saw the #B04eSports team once again narrowly miss out on a place in the top 16 of the preliminary round – and with it, a spot in the in-person knockout stage. It was a bitter blow: Marc and Sean Landwehr again fell just short, despite being level on points with their rivals. As was the case last month, their weaker record across the twelve individual matches in the six preliminary round fixtures proved decisive.
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“They stuck with us over the past few weeks when things weren’t going so well,” said captain Edmond Tapsoba, thanking the fans for their support after the 2–1 win in Cologne and dedicating the derby victory to them. Throughout the 90 minutes, the Werkself had looked unfazed and in command, inflicting the first home defeat of the season on FC Köln. It was the sixth consecutive win against the Cologne team for Bayer 04 – head coach Carles Martínez, on the other hand, was facing the team from the neighbouring city for the first time and “now really knows what this derby win means”. The Werkself derby review.
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Following the 2–1 derby victory away at FC Köln on Bundesliga matchday 9, Edmond Tapsoba, Malik Tillman and Aleix Garcia spoke to Werkself TV...
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Werkself TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04's 2-1 derby win at 1. FC Köln Matchday 9 of the 2026/27 Bundesliga season...
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