
“Francis Onyeka is a child of the club and Bayer 04 through and through. That makes me even happier to see his outstanding development, ” said sporting managing director Simon Rolfes. “We are firmly convinced Francis will continue to have a successful career with us.”
Onyeka started playing for the Bayer 04 junior sides from the age of seven. The Gummersbach-born player, who joined Leverkusen from SC Borussia Lindenthal-Hohenlind, scored three goals for the Germany U17 team in the autumn in three Euro qualifiers.
Onyeka has found the back of the net six times in six games in the U17 Bundesliga West. The talented youngster has also made nine appearances in the U19 Bundesliga West (2 goals). The Germany youth player also trains with Werkself on a regular basis and is registered for UEFA Europa League.
“Bayer 04 is exactly right club for me,” said Onyeka. “The set-up is ideal, the support is brilliant. I see the opportunity of becoming a successful professional footballer here.“

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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Werkself-TV shows the highlights of the Bayer 04 women's 1-2 loss against VfL Wolfsburg on the 2nd matchday of the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga 2026/27.
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Bayer 04’s eight opponents in the group stage of the 2026/27 UEFA Europa League have been confirmed. At the draw on Friday 28 August held at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco, the Werkself were drawn against two opponents from each of the four pots. There are a total of four home and four away matches. Read on for details of opponents and fixture dates.
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In the 3-2 defeat at Bundesliga newcomers SV 07 Elversberg, the Werkself found the back of the net in the closing stages and, with a bit of luck, could still have equalised. “Today, our play wasn’t good enough, particularly when it came to the basics,” said head coach Carles Martínez. Like the boss, Ibrahim Maza also wants to learn from the match and look ahead: “Next week, people should be able to see from the very first minute that we want it more than our opponents.” The Werkself review on the Bundesliga opener in 2026/27.
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Werkself TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04's 2-3 loss at SV 07 Elversberg on Matchday 1 of the 2026/27 Bundesliga season...
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