The day after the 2-1 win in the DFB Cup Round of 16 tie against VfB Stuttgart, the Werkself training session on Thursday morning was aimed at recovery. Charles Aránguiz was back on the pitch but trained on his own. Julian Baumgartlinger (knock against Hoffenheim) and Sven Bender, who remained in the dressing room after the half-time break due to muscle problems against the team from Swabia, also missed out on the full training session. Exequiel Palacios, who made his debut for Bayer 04 last night, was also absent and he was particularly missed by the two assistant coaches of Argentina Wálter Samuel and Roberto Ayala as Lucas Alario was the only one of their two players at the training session. The Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni was at the cup tie at the BayArena last night to have a look at his players.
The participants for the DFB Cup quarter-finals were confirmed last night. In addition to the Werkself, the Bundesliga clubs Bayern Munich, Eintracht Frankfurt, Fortuna Düsseldorf, Schalke 04, Werder Bremen and Union Berlin plus the fourth division side FC Saarbrücken have qualified for the next round. The draw will be held at the German Football Museum in Dortmund on Sunday night at 18.00 CET and it will be made by former international Cacau who is currently working as the integration officer for the DFB. The DFB general secretary Friedrich Curtius will be in charge of the draw. ARD will broadcast the draw live on the Sportschau TV programme.
Once again it is time for Player of the Month and Kai Havertz has been nominated for the EA SPORTS January Player of the Month. The vote is made up of 40% from the fans plus 30% each from the Bundesliga clubs and selected pundits. The 20-year-old faces stiff competition: In addition to the Leverkusen player, Erling Haaland, Jadon Sancho (both Borussia Dortmund), Leon Goretzka, Robert Lewandowski and Ivan Perisic (all Bayern Munich) have been nominated as well.
You can vote for Havertz HERE.
Stefan Kießling is a guest on 'Doppelpass' on Sunday morning – one subject of the football talk show will definitely be the home game for the Werkself against Borussia Dortmund (Saturday, 8 February, 18.30 CET). The programme will be broadcast from 11.00 CET on the Sport 1 channel.
With their wonderful goals, Martin Terrier and Florian Wirtz are up for the Bundesliga Goal of the Year 2025. Voting for fans will run exclusively via the official Bundesliga app until Sunday, 4 January.
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The ‘year after’ the most successful year in the club's history brought many changes at Bayer 04. In an exclusive double interview with bayer04.de shortly before the Christmas break, Fernando Carro and Simon Rolfes spoke about building a new team capable of winning trophies, the work of coach Kasper Hjulmand, the young new signings who have quickly developed into key players, and their personal plans for the Christmas holidays. Their outlook for the coming year also shows that the potential is far from exhausted and ambitions remain high.
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Last-minute ecstasy, huge disappointment and a historic performance on the European stage - 2025 was a real emotional roller coaster, especially for the U19s. A rousing run in the knockout phase secured the team a place in the final of the German championships, where they lost by the narrowest of margins. Despite the departure of several key players, the young Werkself team quickly regained their usual strength and qualified for the knockout rounds in the UEFA Youth League for the first time at the end of the year. In 2025, youngsters Jeremiah Mensah and Montrell Culbreath made their debuts in the Bundesliga, the DFB Pokal and the UEFA Champions League. The other youth teams also contributed great performances and a number of trophies to the collective Black and Red success, while the successful Bayer 04 Future Kids project broke new ground. Read on for the 2025 review of the youth teams.
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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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A memorable 12 months: 2025 was a year marked by success, intense competition and groundbreaking innovations for the #B04eSports team. After ending the 2024/25 season as runners-up, the Leverkusen-based console pros got down to business in a new, completely restructured season model, in which showdowns rather than divisions were the decisive factor on the road to the final round of the German Club Championship. Bayer 04 quickly earned a place in the history books of the most prestigious competition in German eSports and secured some valuable advantages for the coming year. Bayer04.de takes a look back at 12 months full of passion and the determination to take the next step.
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