Erik ten Hag will be supported by a new group of coaching staff. Newcomers on Monday will include ten Hag's Dutch fellow countrymen and assistant coaches Andries Ulderink and Rogier Meijer. They will be joined by Miguel Angel Campos Vasquez as head of performance and fitness coach Alessandro Schoenmaker.
55-year-old former assistant coach Ulderink took over as temporary head coach of top-flight Royal Antwerp FC on 4 March 2025. His contract with the Belgian club ran out a week ago on 30 June. Previously he was assistant coach at Rangers and Twente Enschede. Ulderink also worked as head coach at Ajax Cape Town (South Africa) and at the Dutch second division club De Graafschap.
Rogier Meijer most recently worked in the Dutch Eredivisie at NEC Nijmegen. The 43-year-old was assistant coach there in 2019 before taking charge of the team a year later and in his first season in charge he led them to promotion to the top-flight. NEC reached the final of the KNVB Cup in 2024 and finished eighth in the league in 2024/25. Meijer was the Nijmegen coach for 194 games.
Miguel Angel Campos Vasquez worked as a fitness coach at the Spanish clubs UD Levante, FC Granada, UD Almeria and FC Cadiz. He also looked after players in England at Watford and the 46-year-old Spaniard has worked for the Algerian FA. Most recently he was responsible for the fitness of Spain youth teams up to the level of the U21s.
Alessandro Schoenmaker has Brazilian heritage and he worked alongside ten Hag at Ajax. 45-year-old Schoenmaker has a wide range of experience in top level football. Anderlecht, Crystal Palace, Newcastle United and Inter Milan are some of his former clubs. In 2010 Schoenmaker worked in the Bundesliga as fitness coach at VfL Wolfsburg.
The Bayer 04 coaching staff also includes established fitness coaches Markus Müller and Jonas Rath. Erik ten Hag’s inner circle will include Marcel Daum as analysis assistant coach, analyst Simon Lackmann, head of sports science Dr. Malte Krüger and sports scientist Prisca Volmary.
Bayer 04 beat PSV Eindhoven 3-2 on matchday two to clock up the next three points in the UCL Youth League 2025/26. In front of just under 500 spectators at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium, the visitors from the Netherlands led at half-time, but the Werkself turned the game round in the second 45. That makes it two wins on the bounce after the victory in Copenhagen.
Show moreVideo games manufacturer Electronic Arts (EA) and the German Football League (DFL) have announced the six nominees for the Bundesliga Player of the Month award for September - including the Werkself player, Alejandro Grimaldo. Fans of the Black and Reds can vote from now until Sunday 5 October (23:59 CEST).
Show moreRüdiger 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 personalised 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…
Show moreCan the Bayer 04 U19s capitalise on their successful UEFA Youth League opener against FC Copenhagen (2-0) a fortnight ago? The Werkself host PSV Eindhoven at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium on Wednesday, 1 October (kick-off: 14:00 CEST/live stream on bayer04.de and on the Bayer 04 app) on matchday two in the league phase. Ahead of the clash with the top team from his native Netherlands, head coach Kevin Brok spoke about his own approach, the strengths of the opponents and the home game factor.
Show moreBayer 04 host Dutch champions PSV Eindhoven on matchday 2 in the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League phase. Ahead of the game, Edmond Tapsoba spoke to Werkself TV about UCL nights at the BayArena, the reunion with his former Leverkusen coach Peter Bosz and what the defender and his team-mates have to be prepared for...
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