The circumstances around the award of the World Cup to Qatar in 2010 were scandalous. The award criteria have to be significantly more transparent in the future. Qatar came out on top in the fourth round of voting in 2010 although it was the least suitable of all applications for hosting a World Cup according to FIFA's own audit reports. Out of eight new World Cup stadiums, seven were new-build projects. Football culture does not exist in Qatar. From our perspective, that is a knockout criterion for a potential World Cup host. And for that reason we believe the World Cup should never have been awarded to Qatar.
Extreme political attitudes of a host country, homophobia, the denial of freedom of expression and women's rights plus unacceptable working conditions in the country staging a World Cup are completely contrary to the basic values we stand for at this club. In this respect, Bayer 04 supports the DFB in their endeavours and in their emphatic commitment to achieve transparency and to our free and democratic value system.
Fernando Carro, Bayer 04 CEO, is a member of the board of the European Club Association (ECA). He will visit Qatar in December for a board meeting and a range of other discussions. The Spaniard takes the following position: "Questions ignored in the award of this tournament twelve years ago on the human rights situation, on equality and the freedom of expression in the host country will justifiably accompany this World Cup. We now need to work towards making the award criteria for a World Cup significantly more transparent in the future. I will campaign for that in the name of Bayer 04."
As a club, we also look at this World Cup from the perspective of our players. They have worked for years for their sporting objectives and this World Cup could be the high point of the football careers of some of them. In our opinion, we believe it would be wrong not to report on this. Therefore, we will report on our international players at the World Cup and their sporting achievements and follow their appearances on the World Cup stage. We believe the players cannot be made responsible for the award of the competition to Qatar twelve years ago. Accordingly, they have our respect, our support and editorial backing.
Bayer 04 will round off their 2026/27 pre-season preparations with a friendly against Premier League side Newcastle United. The match against the side featuring German internationals Malik Thiaw and Nick Woltemade will take place on Saturday 15 August (kick-off: 4 pm German time/3 pm local time) at St James’ Park. Werkself-TV will stream the match live in full and free of charge after logging in from 3.50 pm...
After the 2-1 defeat at Premier League club Nottingham Forest the night before, it was straight back to work for the Werkself at midday on Thursday with an intensive training session in hot temperatures at the hosts' training ground.
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The Werkself suffered a first defeat in the current pre-season fixtures. The sixth friendly of the summer ended in 2-1 reverse at Premier League Nottingham Forest. The English side took an early lead (4’) but Patrik Schick levelled just after the half-hour mark (32’). Nothing much happened after that, and the match looked set to end in a draw. However, the hosts managed to score the winning goal late on (90').
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen have loaned U19 midfielder Jeremiah Mensah to Dutch second-tier side Roda JC Kerkrade for one year. The 18-year-old Germany youth international has a long-term contract at the club to 2031.
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH has taken note of the final, non-binding statement issued by the Bundeskartellamt regarding the 50+1 rule and its application, and will now examine it carefully.
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