At 5.30 in the morning, the three groundsmen at FC Zell am See started work on clearing water off the pitch at the Alois Latini Stadium. Equipped with shovels and wheelbarrows plus sand, the trio worked hard to ensure the Werkself had the best possible conditions for the two sessions planned for Monday.
Just in time for the first training session in the morning, not only was the pitch mostly in good condition but the cloud cover over Lake Zeller had also disappeared. Head coach Gerardo Seoane welcomed Karim Bellarabi back to the pitch for the first time since Friday. The winger has recently suffered with slight muscle problems.
Euro 2020 player Julian Baumgartlinger was back on the pitch with his teammates for the first time in the pre-season. After the Round of 16 exit against European champions Italy (2-1 a.e.t..) was given the opportunity to recover with a break – and he has returned now full of zest for action. The stalwart lead from the front in his first session in Zell am See.
Baumgartlinger plus Lucas Alario and Zidan Sertdemir completed most of the training session with the squad but the trio left out the final pat of the workout.
The morning session was followed by media interviews for seven players plus head coach Seoane and sporting director Simon Rolfes. In the outside area of the Tauern Spa, Lukas Hradecky and Co. answered questions from the journalists. Jonathan Tah was a guest of bayer04.de and his interview will be available to read tomorrow morning (Tuesday).
Goalkeeper Andrey Lunev, who joined the Werkself in the summer from Russian champions Zenit St. Petersburg, spent his afternoon learning German. The 29-year-old was working on the days of the week in his hotel room. Following his language session, the Russian mastered ‘Black or Red’.
The afternoon brought the second workout for the Werkself at the Alois Latini Stadium. This time the focus was on fun – and there was fervent work with the head:
The team, coaches, staff and delegation rounded off day 04 in Austria with a barbecue at the team hotel before the players then headed for their rooms.
The German Football Association (DFB) confirmed the kick-off times for the second round of the 2026/27 DFB Pokal on Thursday. Bayer 04 will meet 1. FC Nürnberg on Wednesday 28 October at 20:45 CET.
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This Wednesday afternoon, the German Football Association (DFB) announced the exact kick-off times for Matchday 6 in the Google Pixel Women’s Bundesliga. According to the fixture list, the Bayer 04 Women’s home match against Werder Bremen will be played on Friday, 2 October, at 18:30 CEST.
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Just in time for the start of the school year, everyone was hard at work again at NaturGut Ophoven. For the 21st time, Bayer 04 have supported the annual ‘BioBrotbox’ campaign, which puts together a healthy breakfast for first-year primary school pupils in Leverkusen – and not only contributed 1,904 muesli bars but also plenty of enthusiasm too: Together with the U19 players Burak Kir and Clinton Wilson, Emily Wallrabenstein and Paulina Platner from the Women’s Bundesliga team helped with the packing. The latter was clearly delighted “that Bayer 04 are helping out with regional projects like this and showing their commitment to the local community”.
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A group of about 50 members of the Bayer 04 Football Academy São Paulo visited Leverkusen over the past few days, accompanied by Bayer 04 club legend Paulo Sergio and Luiz Felipe (managing director of academy in São Paulo) for a week full of football, encounters and very special insights. In addition to the Bundesliga away game in Elversberg and the home game against Union Berlin, the visit also featured a joint training session with the Bayer 04 Football Academy in Leverkusen and a tour of the Bayer AG facilities. The guests also gained special insights into the club and the world of Bayer 04.
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