Player number 25 arrived on time at 08.30 at the Hotel Tauern Spa in Kaprun; European Championship participant Julian Baumgartlinger joined the team for the first time in the pre-season. The stalwart had a short journey to the team hotel as he spent his time off in his home country of Austria.
Baumgartlinger and his teammates were originally due to have their training session on Sunday on the pitch at the Alois Latini Stadium. However, the training session could not be held as planned as the pitches were underwater due to the heavy rainfall of the past few days.
So head coach Gerardo Seoane and his coaching staff held a session in the morning that was divided into three consisting of weight training in the hotel fitness centre, athletics training in the players area of the accommodation plus a running session.
While the outfield players remained in the hotel, the four Werkself keepers and goalkeeping coach David Thiel made the ten-minute journey to the training ground in Zell am See on Sunday. For Lukas Hradecky, new signing Andrey Lunev, Lennart Grill and Niklas Lomb there was a tactical session. Thiel: "Today we did training on defending space. At the centre of the drills were diagonal balls and low crosses where the lads had to find the right positions."
The quartet used a penalty area on the neighbouring pitch, "which, thank God, was relatively free of water," added Thiel. "It was important for us to complete this tactical session today on the pitch." Following the 45 minutes on the pitch, the focus of the goalkeepers on the last day of the week was recovery.
After lunch, sporting director Simon Rolfes met journalists who are with the Werkself for this year's training camp in the lobby of the hotel. The 39-year-old provided answers for over 45 minutes on personnel, the rest of the programme in Salzburger Land as well as the targets for the new season.
The discussions were not completely straightforward as the meeting of the media saw Rudi Völler burst in after 20 minutes. The sporting managing director at Bayer 04 gave a warm welcome to the journalists – and, as usual, he had a few quips ready. In reference to the sports kit worn by Rolfes, Völler said with a wink of the eye: "The way we look we could still play. Isn't that right, Simon?" The key statements from the Bayer 04 sporting director will be posted on the bayer04.de website on Monday morning.
Are you curious about what a day looks like for the Werkself players at the training camp? Then have a look at the story on our Bayer 04 Instagram channel. New signing Mitchel Bakker and Daley Sinkgraven provide exclusive insights of their Sunday. The Dutch duo reported on breakfast and session in the weights room. HERE is the Werkself channel.
At the same time, youngster Emrehan Gedikli takes you on a tour of the hotel on Snapchat. The 18-year-old starts the tour in his hotel room. That is followed by the kit room, the players’ lounge, the dining room – and a visit to the accommodation of Florian Wirtz. HERE is the Bayer 04 Snapchat channel.
René Rydlewicz also experienced one or two training camps in his time under the Bayer Cross (1991-94 and 1996-01/1998). The DFB Cup final winner of 1993 is now assistant coach of the Germany U18 team – and today (Sunday) he celebrates his 48th birthday. Bayer 04 wish him many happy returns.
With 22 days to go until the start of the Bundesliga campaign, the Bayer 04 Women’s team have gained a fresh boost of confidence. In a friendly against Belgian top-flight side KRC Genk on Saturday afternoon, coach Roberto Pätzold’s team secured a 1–0 win. Lobke Loonen (20’) scored the winner for the Black and Reds at the Kurtekotten training centre.
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A successful fourth preseason friendly ahead of the start of the training camp: The Werkself secured a 3-0 victory over Rot-Weiss Essen at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium. The goals in what was a commanding and dominant performance by Leverkusen from the outset were scored by Ibrahim Maza (8'), Patrik Schick from the penalty spot (23’) and, in the second half, Montrell Culbreath with a header (79’). The team set off for their training camp in Blankenhain in the Weimarer Land region after the game.
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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 personal 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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You have voted – your ‘Team of the Quarter-Century’ has been decided! This historic selection, covering the period from 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2024, features honorary captains, Bundesliga champions, double winners and Champions League finalists. Edmond Tapsoba is the only player from the current Bayer 04 squad to make it into the starting XI, while his team-mate Patrik Schick is on the bench. Simon Rolfes, the current managing director sport, is also in the lie-up. A truly special team that brings together a quarter of a century of Bayer 04 history – and has left a decisive mark on the club.
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Following Patrik Schick, Mark Flekken, Ibrahim Maza and Kerim Alajbegovic earlier this week, the next World Cup participant is back on the training ground in Leverkusen: On Thursday 30 July, Malik Tillman rejoined the squad, completing his first training session under head coach Carles Martínez.
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