
The next eight days at the training camp are intended to tune up Bayer 04 ahead of a blistering start to the new campaign.
Tour d'Autriche
So it was straight to the training ground after checking in to the team hotel. Karim Bellarabi, Chicharito and Co. got on mountain bikes to cover the eight kilometres to the familiar Alois Latini Stadium on the banks of Lake Zell where Bayer 04 have prepared for the new season for the past three years. A short tour of Austria and the perfect warm-up after the previous day’s friendly against FC Porto (1-1) and the long day on the road before completing a 30-minute recovery session to be ready to start the hard work on Friday.
Three former Salzburg men
A number of Bayer 04 fans were in attendance and they began their vocal rehearsals for the forthcoming campaign. The Werkself were welcomed with open arms when they landed at Salzburg Airport. Above all, Roger Schmidt, Kevin Kampl and André Ramalho attracted a number of fans in search of autographs and selfies who remembered their successful time at RB Salzburg with several title wins. All three still enjoy an excellent reputation in SalzburgerLand.
Brandt meets Krahn
While the team-mates are busy for the next week or so Thursday marks the start of a special mission for Lars Bender and Julian Brandt. Both Werkself pros have the honour of representing Germany at the Olympics in Brazil and the coach Horst Hrubesch has invited his squad to a three-day training camp in Frankfurt before setting off to Sugar Mountain on Saturday. Brandt posed for a photo in Frankfurt with Annike Krahn, the Bayer 04 Women’s Bundesliga preparing for Rio 2016 with the Germany squad.
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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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