Extra shift for Rambo Özcan
That impression was confirmed by Rambo Özcan. While his fellow players had already arrived back at the team hotel on the team bus, the number two to Bernd Leno put in extra work with goalkeeping coach David Thiel: The task at hand was to chase after low balls and cut them off. The 33-year-old Austrian was clearly enjoying himself. And the wet turf played its part too.
Play, fun and set pieces
The Werkself pros tasted fresh air in their football boots twice on Tuesday. In the first session, Heiko Herrlich's team practice set pieces and switching play. The strenuous training sessions on Tuesday made their mark on the legs of the Werkself players but the defensive part of the team gave their all and got stuck in to prevent conceding goals. Both teams develop their own strategy. Effort after effort when begging before Stefan Kießling finally got the ball over the line. The following celebrations underlined the relief at the success of their own creativity. And the joy. Kevin Volland certainly enjoyed the latter with two of his shots from free kicks impressively landing in the back of the net. The first skillfully in the top corner and the second bottom corner with the help of the wall. Never mind, the fact it went in was the main thing.
Water fight in the afternoon
The persistent rain saw the second session developed into a true water fight. Sometimes the ball got stuck in a puddle and others the difficult surface prevented a clean finish. The toughest opponent was often the pitch. Not least with efforts on goal. Team-mates slipping up entertained the others including the coaching staff.
VIP guests at training
The Werkself not only attracted fans to the Alois Latini Stadium. A number of football VIPs attended the morning session. In addition to the Bayer 04 members of management Rudi Völler and Jonas Boldt, training session was watched by the Germany team manager Oliver Bierhoff, assistant coach Marcus Sorg and DFB manager Thomas Beheshti. Plus former Bayer 04 Pro Stefan Reinartz and Marcus Kauczinski, former coach Bundesliga team FC Ingolstadt.
Football on mobile phones
The time spent waiting for the evening meal saw Sven Bender do what he likes doing best: football. He sat down in the corner of the hotel lobby and watched – later accompanied by his brother Lars – parts of the Regional League game of his first professional club 1860 Munich broadcast live. The evening entertainment continued after the meal. Unfortunately he was unable to do anything about the 1-0 defeat at TSV. Buchbach.
Takeover by Danger and Kevin Volland
There was a highly amusing story on the Bayer 04 Instagram channel today. The two mates Kevin Volland and Joel Pohjanpalo gave Bayer 04 fans an exclusive and amusing insight into the Werkself daily routine. It's worth looking in. Click here for the Instagram channel: >> www.instagram.com/bayer04fussball
#B04inAustria –For all the news and updates
Using the hashtag #B04inAustria it is possible to keep up-to-date with #Werkself and #Bayer 04 round-the-clock. There are also daily, exclusive stories from the heart of the team on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat. It's worth taking a look.
Plenty going on both on and off the pitch: The Bayer 04 fan support team has organised a number of highlights for fans visiting the Werkself 2026/27 summer training camp in Blankenhain, in the Weimarer Land region. Registration for the events is now open. All the details at a glance.
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The Bayer 04 Leverkusen Women’s team and s2-Software are continuing their long-term partnership: The Werkself and the provider of pre-owned Microsoft licences have extended their contract by two years to 2028. This means s2-Software will remain the Bayer 04 sleeve sponsor for all matches in the Google Pixel Women’s Bundesliga.
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BIOGENA is the new performance partner for the Bayer 04 Leverkusen Women’s team. Under a partnership initially set to run for three years, the club and the leading Austrian micronutrient company are pooling their expertise in the areas of health, fitness and top-level performance.
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100 children from the Bayer 04 Football Academy had the chance to gain exclusive insights: As part of the summer camp, the young footballers headed inside the BayArena at midday on Tuesday, 21 July, where they were due to meet Werkself keepers Janis Blaswich and Simeon Rapsch in the press conference room. The two players took plenty of time to answer every question from the inquisitive audience – whether it was about their own careers or their first impressions of the new head coach. Finally, there was even time left to sign autographs for the young fans.
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Following the cancellation of Bayer 04’s scheduled friendly against Carl Zeiss Jena on 1 August, the Werkself have now found a new opponent for the same day and will host Rot-Weiss Essen of the 3. Liga at the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion. Kick-off is at 11:00 CEST and tickets are available now.
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