
Almost like a phoenix from the ashes, winter signing Edmond Tapsoba has become a regular starter in the team under head coach Peter Bosz. “It’s a dream come true,” said the 21-year-old in an interview with the Werks11 Magazine. Tapsoba talks about his unusual career path and explains why he had to change his sleeping habits after his move from Portugal to adjust to the German mentality.
His Leverkusen teammate Patrik Schick joined the Werkself in the summer. The Czech Republic international, who became a father for the first time in October, came to Leverkusen via Prague, Genoa, Rome and Leipzig and now provides an interview with the Werks11 Magazine on top of the famous Leverkusen Water Tower.
Under the title “Perfect long-distance relationship”, the magazine looks at the special link between Bayer 04 and America, which reached a milestone in September. The signing of the Colombian Santiago Arias (Atlético Madrid) marked the arrival of the 40th player from America in the Rhineland to play for the Black and Reds. In addition to the defender, unfortunately sidelined with a long-term injury, six other players from the other side of the Atlantic are in the current Bayer 04 squad.
The Virtual Bundesliga (VBL) started it’s fourth season on 10 November. Bayer 04 are competing again and the successful duo of Kai ‘DETO’ Wollin and Fabian ‘B04_DUBZJE’ De Cae are looking to make a good start together with two new signings at the #B04eSports team. The Werks11 Magazine introduces both eSports players and also talks to Florian Dederichs, head of eSports at Bayer 04, about the importance of virtual football for the club.
Click HERE to access the new edition. Enjoy the read!
You can browse all the previous Werks11 Magazines since edition 1 from 2015/16 at bayer04.de.


This special event showed once again how strong Bayer 04 are as a team: As part of ‘BarmeniaGothaer gives joy’, the Werkself players Edmond Tapsoba, Ibrahim Maza and Christian Kofane supported the sale of individually designed T-shirts for a good cause at the Fanwelt on Thursday. Several hundred fans came to take part in the charity campaign. Leverkusen's main sponsor BarmeniaGothaer donated the proceeds to the Fondation Edmond Tapsoba, which helps people in Tapsoba's home country of Burkina Faso in their challenging everyday lives.
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With three games to play before the end of the season, the Bayer 04 Women can break one record and equal another at SGS Essen. After three wins on the bounce, coach Roberto Pätzold's team are aiming to maintain the chance of third place in Sunday’s away game (14:00 CEST, Stadion an der Hafenstraße).
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Rüdiger Vollborn has been at the club for 40 years, he holds the record number of Bundesliga appearances for the club (401) and is the only Bayer 04 player to have won both the UEFA Cup (1988) and the DFB Pokal (1993). And the Berliner stayed with the Werkself after ending his impressive playing career as he worked as a goalkeeping coach for the following nine years. Vollborn now works under the Bayer Cross as a fan liaison officer and club archivist. Since February 2021, the personalised Black and Red lexicon takes Werkself fans under the heading of 'Rudi recounts...' on a brief trip through the history of Bayer 04 every month…
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From Ouagadougou to Leverkusen – and back: in March, Bayer 04 travelled with Edmond Tapsoba for a special project in his homeland Burkina Faso. The country where his roots and heart lie. The country where he’s more than a world-class defender: a symbol of hope and a role model for an entire generation. The result is a 45-minute documentary about Tapsoba’s long journey from Africa via Portugal to Leverkusen, which offers extraordinary, one-off and emotional insights.
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Edmond Tapsoba has signed an early extension to his contract with Bayer 04 Leverkusen. With two years left on his current deal, the 27-year-old Burkina Faso international has extended his contract until 30 June 2031. The centre-back joined as a young talent from Portuguese top-flight club Vitoria Guimaraes at the start of 2020.
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