Two board members from each of the professional clubs signed the cooperation agreement at the German Football Museum in Dortmund on Monday afternoon. Bayer 04 were represented by Fernando Carro, chairman of the board, and sporting managing director Rudi Völler. NRW Minister of the Interior Herbert Reul explained after the meeting: "We are dealing with a problem that has existed for decades. Intensive exchange of information and close cooperation are the keys to less violence in football."
The alliances are to be set up and individually administered in each of the venues by the club and the local police authorities according to agreed standards. Regular information, joint exercises, discussions and dedicated contacts form part of all the agreements.
In addition to Bayer 04, the following clubs have agreed to the alliances: Borussia Dortmund, Borussia Mönchengladbach, FC Schalke 04, FC Köln, Arminia Bielefeld, SC Paderborn 07, VfL Bochum and Fortuna Düsseldorf.
Background to the co-operative approach is combating violence relating to football. During the 2018/19 season, 276 people were injured and 1,615 prosecutions were launched in relation to football matches in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen will have to manage without centre-back Edmond Tapsoba in the coming weeks. The Burkina Faso international returned to the Werkself from the Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco with a muscle injury.
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The Werkself are away to Hamburg SV at the end of the Hinrunde in the 2025/26 Bundesliga campaign. The match at the newly promoted club is on Tuesday night, 13 January (kick-off: 20:30 CET). Ahead of the first encounter with HSV since 2018, Kasper Hjulmand spoke about the strengths of the opponents, lessons learnt from the home defeat against VfB Stuttgart and provided a squad update.
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In Germany, the temperatures are currently around zero, leaving even professional footballers freezing - but not the Bayer 04 Women. Roberto Pätzold's team have fled the cold to the south and are preparing for the second half of the season at a training camp in the Algarve, almost 2,000 kilometres away from home as the crow flies. The Leverkusen squad landed in Faro on Saturday morning and have already completed the first three training sessions over the weekend.
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It was a disappointing Saturday night. The Werkself lost 4-1 to VfB Stuttgart to start the new year on Bundesliga matchday 16 in 2025/26, a result that left both players and fans disappointed. "We played without any passion," said Alejandro Grimaldo honestly afterwards. Teammate Jarell Quansah was even more self-critical, emphasising: "We were miles off it in the first half. You can't put in a performance like that, especially in front of our own fans and I can only apologise to them, to be honest." Read on for the reaction, facts and stats from the clash with VfB Stuttgart in the Werkself review.
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