Stadium announcer Petra ‘Pitti’ Dahl opened the event and acted as the presenter for the evening. After the sponsors were welcomed by the Bayer 04 directors Fernando Carro and Rudi Völler, there was the informative part of the event. In between the three courses served up, last season and the recently completed training camp in Zell am See in Austria were reviewed before coach Peter Bosz, sporting director Simon Rolfes and captain Lars Bender came on stage for an entertaining round of discussions.
Then everybody was on their feet for the table football tournament. The sponsors, Werkself players and the Bayer 04 management were divided up into teams and first played each other in a group stage of four rounds with games of four minutes each way. The Bayer 04 reporter for the visually handicapped, Björn Nass, provided a live commentary for the semi-finals and the final. The 'La Parisienne' team, made up of the two Werkself players Jonathan Tah and Moussa Diaby plus Dr Andreas Eurich, CEO at Barmenia, were the winners. In a shower of confetti, Stefan Kießling presented the trophy to the victors and the evening finished with relaxed discussions and networking.
With 22 days to go until the start of the Bundesliga campaign, the Bayer 04 Women’s team have gained a fresh boost of confidence. In a friendly against Belgian top-flight side KRC Genk on Saturday afternoon, coach Roberto Pätzold’s team secured a 1–0 win. Lobke Loonen (20’) scored the winner for the Black and Reds at the Kurtekotten training centre.
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A successful fourth preseason friendly ahead of the start of the training camp: The Werkself secured a 3-0 victory over Rot-Weiss Essen at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium. The goals in what was a commanding and dominant performance by Leverkusen from the outset were scored by Ibrahim Maza (8'), Patrik Schick from the penalty spot (23’) and, in the second half, Montrell Culbreath with a header (79’). The team set off for their training camp in Blankenhain in the Weimarer Land region after the game.
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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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You have voted – your ‘Team of the Quarter-Century’ has been decided! This historic selection, covering the period from 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2024, features honorary captains, Bundesliga champions, double winners and Champions League finalists. Edmond Tapsoba is the only player from the current Bayer 04 squad to make it into the starting XI, while his team-mate Patrik Schick is on the bench. Simon Rolfes, the current managing director sport, is also in the lie-up. A truly special team that brings together a quarter of a century of Bayer 04 history – and has left a decisive mark on the club.
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Following Patrik Schick, Mark Flekken, Ibrahim Maza and Kerim Alajbegovic earlier this week, the next World Cup participant is back on the training ground in Leverkusen: On Thursday 30 July, Malik Tillman rejoined the squad, completing his first training session under head coach Carles Martínez.
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