With over 76% of the 2,500 votes cast, the 20-year-old Germany international was clearly ahead of his team-mates – the Werkself number 29 played a significant role in securing qualification for the Champions League with 17 goals and four assists in his 34 Bundesliga appearances. The fans certainly recognised the value of the performances and commitment of Havertz and once again rewarded the home-grown Bayer 04 talent with the vote as Player of the Season in a repeat of 2016/17. The award will be presented to Havertz at the season launch event at the BayArena on 4 August. Nils Trude, winner of a competition held as part of the vote, will hand over the trophy.
Charles Aránguiz was runner-up with 7% of the vote. The 30-year-old Chilean scored two goals and provided seven assists in 24 league games last season. The midfield maestro, who carried over his impressive performances in the Bundesliga to the Copa América, was narrowly ahead of Kevin Volland in third place on 5%. The 26-year-old also had an exceptional season and was involved in 18 goals in the second half of the Bundesliga campaign (eight goals, ten assists). The ten-time Germany international scored 14 goals in the Bundesliga to equal his personal goalscoring record from 2017/18.
The following fans were picked out as winners: Nils Trude (2 VIP tickets plus presentation of the trophy), Hilger Georges (home shirt), Michael Herkenroth (away shirt) plus Christopher Leseberg, Stefan Vogt, Daniel Köthe, Kristina Hartmann and Finja Übrick (two tickets each for a home game).
In their third friendly of this pre-season, Bayer 04 played on home soil for the first time – and won there too! The Werkself claimed a comfortable 4-0 victory against Belgian top-flight side KRC Genk at the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion. Jeanuel Belocian (9’) and Nathan Tella (42’) gave a dominant Leverkusen a 2-0 lead at the break, which Afonso Moreira (51’) and Christian Kofane (53’) doubled after the break. Among the many second-half substitutions was Patrik Schick, who made his first friendly appearance of the summer.
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The Werkself are finally back. On Saturday 8 August, Bayer 04 kick off the 2026/27 campaign with their opening match. But there’s far more than just a double-header in store for Werkself supporters. True to the motto ‘One day. Two teams. One club’, the BayArena and the Ulrich Haberland Stadium will be transformed into a world of excitement.
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The Werkself continue their 2026/27 pre-season preparations with their third friendly against Belgian top-flight side KRC Genk at the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion on Wednesday 29 July (kick-off 15:00 CEST). Werkself-TV is broadcasting the match live and in full in a stream from 14:50 CEST...
After the children from the Bayer 04 Football Academy grilled Janis Blaswich and Simeon Rapsch last week, another group of 20 young Werkself fans gathered at the BayArena press conference room on Tuesday afternoon, 28 July . This time, the kids directed their questions at Tim Oermann and Jonah Berghoff. Defender Oermann raved about his school days, whilst talented midfielder Berghoff revealed to the young footballers, amongst other things, who his favourite player is – and he is also at Bayer 04. To round things off, the pair naturally obliged with all requests for autographs and selfies.
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Bayer 04 are back on the pitch. Following the first training sessions, the Werkself play the first pre-season friendly on Saturday, July 18. The match against Oberliga club Sportfreunde Baumberg kicks off at 15:30 CEST in Monheim am Rhein. Fans unable to attend the match can watch head coach Carles Martínez’s first game in charge for free via a livestream at bayer04.de and on the Bayer 04 app, as well as on Werkself.tv (exclusively for members). Just log on and watch the games live. All the other Werkself preseason friendlies leading up to the 2026/27 season will also be streamed live for free.
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