"We are very happy to have been able to bring in a young yet very self-confident central defender with international experience in Piero Hincapie," declared sporting director Simon Rolfes. "Of course, we've watched him for a while. His very good performances against absolute world-class players at the big continental tournament in South America have confirmed us in our assessment that Piero has a very promising future. He fits in with Bayer 04 and we are convinced he will be an important player for us."
Sporting managing director Rudi Völler described the 1.84 metre tall left-footer as "a ball winner, intelligent and technically gifted. This transfer completely fits in with Bayer Leverkusen," said Völler. "Piero Hincapie is a highly talented player who has the quality to immediately strengthen our squad and, at the same time, can improve even further and reach an absolute top level."
That is exactly the target for the young Ecuadorian who will wear the number 33 shirt for the Werkself. "It's a great feeling for me that a club like Bayer 04 Leverkusen made such an effort to sign me. The Bundesliga and Bayer 04 have an outstanding reputation in my own country and in the whole of South America," said Hincapie. "Now I'm here and it's fantastic and I want to further improve my level in football to the benefit of the club. We have a great team who I'd like to help with good performances."
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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