After the 1-1 draw in the friendly against Basaksehir, Heiko Herrlich announced the training ground at the Alois Latini Stadium in Zell am See would remain (almost) empty on Friday. The Werkself footballs stayed in their black bags. Instead the squad split up into groups at the team hotel to work on the fixed bikes in the gym. Only Lukas Hradecky was on the pitch as he completed a rehab session with goalkeeping coach David Thiel.
Following the departure of Panos Retsos from the training camp the medics had to put another Werkself pro on the injury list – at least temporarily: Leon Bailey will miss team training for a few days due to a strained ligament in his right shoulder. The 20-year-old picked up the injury in Thursday's friendly when he landed badly in a challenge on 70 minutes. The Jamaican had his arm in a black shoulder-arm bandage for the whole day on Friday. Get well soon, Leon.
After the recovery session and a team meeting, the Werkself squad headed off to the Grand Hotel in Zell am See. SalzburgerLand Tourismus GmbH and Zell am See-Kaprun Tourismus, a partner of Bayer 04 for six years, issued an invitation to a traditional reception with yodellers and Schuhplattler dancers. While Rudi Völler, Heiko Herrlich, Julian Baumgartlinger and Rambo Özcan, after a photograph together on the sun-drenched terrace at the Grand Hotel, took part in a 'summer talk show' for the media present, the rest of the Werkself went the other way. According to the motto: Dig into the lunch buffet! At the media event, Völler praised the "great care and very good facilities" – from the training pitches in Zell am See to the team hotel in Kaprun. And Herrlich also provided a positive interim assessment: "We've worked very well so far – both in terms of fitness and tactics. We are much further on compared with last year and we want to show that soon.“
Heiko Herrlich gave his players (and his fellow coaches) the afternoon and evening off. While the head coach spent time in the spa area at the hotel, the Bavarian-Austrian tour group of Lars and Sven Bender, Kevin Volland, Julian Baumgartlinger and Rambo Özcan went on a trip the Alpine reservoirs in Kaprun. A group of coaches led by assistant coach Nico Schneck had a similar destination when went on mountain bikes to the nearby Lake Klamm.
In the afternoon, the new chairman of the board Fernando Carro and Meinolf Sprink (community/fan director) met the travelling fans on the terrace at the team hotel. The 50 loyal supporters of the Werkself were invited to coffee and cold drinks and, after the welcome address, they were able to put their questions to the 54-year-old club boss. Carro promised, amongst other things, to do all he can to bring success to Leverkusen this season. Rudi Völler joined in later on to back up the words of his fellow managing director.
For Carro's predecessor, Michael Schade, it was a case of saying goodbye again. The former CEO arrived at the team hotel on Thursday. On Friday, the partners presented him with a gift hamper at the sponsors event in Zell am See and later had a private dinner with the Bayer 04 directors and club management.
After dinner there was suddenly a lively atmosphere amongst the Werkself around eight o'clock. A lot of the players wanted to watch the opening game of the second division campaign between Hamburg SV and Holstein Kiel. Benny Henrichs, Jonathan Tah and Karim Bellarabi enjoyed exciting challenges on the Playstation. Talking of which: The Werkself are back on the training ground on Saturday. There are two sessions at 9.15 and 17.30, which are the last two at the Alois Latini Stadium in Zell am See before Sunday's departure from Kaprun and the friendly in Grödig against Al-Wahda Mecca (15.30 CET).
Using the hashtag #B04inAustria, fans have round the clock access to news about the #Werkself and #Bayer04. On top of that, there are exclusive stories from the heart of the team on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat every day.
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...
Show more
Sustainability once again had many faces at Bayer 04 in 2025: In community activity, the club supported countless regional campaigns, including the Leverkusener Tafel, the Frauenennotruf Leverkusen e.V. and the homeless aid organisation "Kältegang". But the Black and Reds have also been involved in good causes around the world - including the Young Coaches training programmes in Uganda and Ecuador plus the Genuine World Cup in the USA, where the Inclusion Werkself competed. Bayer 04 was also fully committed to the environment and underwent external and independently certification in accordance with the European environmental management standard EMAS, for example, to analyse and optimise the club’s environmental efforts. Looking back at sustainability in 2025.
Show more
Two Saturdays, one Friday and one Sunday: The dates for the Bayer 04 Women's team games on matchdays 16 to 19 have been finalised. Three of the four matches scheduled by the German Football Association (DFB) on Tuesday will be played at home at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium.
Show more
Bayer 04 currently have a number of promising young talents on loan to various clubs in Europe with the aim of gaining match practice and furthering their individual development. Francis Onyeka and Farid Alfa-Ruprecht, for example, play for VfL Bochum 1848, while Artem Stepanov is a striker with 1. FC Nürnberg, coached by World Cup winner Miroslav Klose. Tim Oermann is a defender in the Austrian Bundesliga at top club SK Sturm Graz and Abdoulaye Faye is playing in France for FC Lorient, promoted to Ligue 1 this season. Bayer04.de reviews the first six months for the Leverkusen players out on loan.
Show more
