Xabi Alonso held his first session at the training camp this morning on the pitches in the immediate vicinity of the team hotel. It was straight down to work in front of a large number of Werkself fans. A warm-up routine including stabilisation and stamina drills was followed by a fast-paced and long practice match. The commands of the Spanish head coach could be heard across the whole ground. Alonso intervened again and again to make minor adjustments.
Jonathan Tah trained on his own on the neighbouring pitch after having received a knock in training in Leverkusen. And Kerem Demirbay missed out after being kicked on the right foot. The 30-year-old midfielder did watch his teammates in the morning session from the sidelines.
Sardar Azmoun had to drop out of the session. The Iran international suffered a muscle injury in his left calf. He will leave for Leverkusen on Tuesday morning to start rehab in the Werkstatt at the BayArena..
Following the morning session, Victor Boniface gave his first interview to Werkself TV as a Bayer 04 player at the training ground. The 22-year-old new signing from top Belgian club Royale Union Saint-Gilloise expressed his joy at the move to Leverkusen and declared that this step was a "dream come true" for him. The interview with the Nigerian striker is HERE.
The second session in the afternoon began with rondos followed by tactical work across the whole pitch. With Werner Wenning, chair of the Bayer 04 shareholders committee, plus the fans looking on, the end of training was followed by a fun penalty competition. That was the end of the session for the first team squad but there was further action on the pitch.
A small group including sporting managing director Simon Rolfes, head coach Xabi Alonso, assistant coaches Sebastian Parrilla and Alberto Encinas, goalkeeper coach David Thiel plus team liaison manager Hans-Peter Lehnhoff had a practice match in early evening – and they produced one or two impressive moves with Florian Wirtz, Granit Xhaka and Amine Adli watching from the touchline. The team with World Cup winner Alonso and former Germany international Rolfes came out on top. "Let's make a friendly result of it – 14-2 or the like," said Rolfes after with a smile. The team distribution probably wasn't balanced.,,
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There will be another two training sessions on Tuesday (10.30 and 16.30 CEST – subject to late changes) open to Bayer 04 fans. After the first session in the afternoon, sporting managing director Simon Rolfes will speak to the media on site with his statements reported later on bayer04.de.
Moreover: Looking forward to the coming season and the first two home games at the BayArena, season card holders and Bayer 04 Club members can secure match tickets for the home opener against RB Leipzig and the clash with SV Darmstadt (matchday three) from noon CEST on Tuesday 25 July. Open sale starts two days later on Thursday 28 July also at noon. The early booking phase ended today leaving a small number of tickets still available. Anybody not wanting to miss the opening match should secure their tickets as soon as possible.
Assistant coach Remzi Kahraman is leaving the Bayer 04 Women’s team with immediate effect to take up a new challenge abroad. The club has agreed to the 31-year-old’s request to leave, although his contract was originally due to run until 2027. A decision on his successor will be announced shortly.
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At the U19 European Championship in Wales, the Germany U19 national team lost their third and final group match 4-0 to Spain. Several regulars, including Bayer 04 players Montrell Culbreath and Francis Onyeka (on loan to SV Elversberg), who had combined for four goals and assists in the two previous victories, did not feature,. Germany had already secured their place in the semi-finals with a game to spare.
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The FIFA World Cup 2026 in the USA, Canada and Mexico is underway. A total of eight Leverkusen players are taking part in the 23rd World Cup, with 48 teams in the tournament for the first time. Bayer04.de brings you all the latest from Werkself players at the World Cup.
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At the end of June, Bayer 04 became the first team in the Google Pixel Women’s Bundesliga to begin their pre-season preparations. As well as training sessions at the Kurtekotten facility, the players under coach Roberto Pätzold completed the customary series of performance diagnostics. Werkself-TV presents exclusive insights and player interviews from the first few days after the summer break.
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