Around 90 members of the media took up the invitation to the press conference at the team hotel. Accompanied by a dozen camera teams, the Toluca coach Ignacio Ambriz immediately expressed his happiness at the Werkself visit to Mexico. The 57-year-old: “We wish you a warm welcome. It means a lot to us that you are our guests here.” Talking about the match, Nacho, the nickname for Ambriz, added: “It’s something special for us to be able to play against a team of this class, we will enjoy it.”
The press conference in the Diamond Room at the team hotel lasted half an hour. Gerardo Seoane thanked his Mexican colleague for his warm words and then spoke about the match against Toluca: “We’re expecting a great match for the fans and we are happy to see so many people following Bayer 04 here in Mexico.” Speaking about targets for the game, the 43-year-old coach said: “We want to represent our club and the Bundesliga to the best of our ability and also get to know new cultures. A different type of football is played here.”
At the end, Ambriz presented his Swiss fellow coach with a club pennant in a flurry of camera flashes from the numerous photographers present.
Following the press conference, the head coach had some time off – and he used it to find out more about the city of 20 million inhabitants. On a tour with his fellow coaches Patrick Schnarwiler and Alberto Encinas plus CEO Fernando Carro, there was a highlight from a great height: Seoane and Co. had a stunning view over the whole city from the 181-metre high viewing platform in the 44-storey skyscraper Torre Latinoamericana.
HERE is a report on the pre-match training session for the Werkself at the attractive academy of top-flight Mexican side UNAM Pumas.
Four Bayer 04 players are in action at the 35th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations being played in Morocco from 21 December to 18 January 2026: Eliesse Ben Seghir for the hosts, Edmond Tapsoba with Burkina Faso, Ibrahim Maza for Algeria and Christian Kofane with Cameroon. Updates on the AFCON matches involving Werkself players...
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Due to the last-minute postponement of the Bundesliga match between Hamburg and the Werkself on Tuesday, 13 January, Bayer 04 will reimburse the ticket price to all 3,500 fans who had already travelled to Hamburg as a sign of appreciation. The tickets remain valid for the rescheduled match (date not yet set).
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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 Bundesliga fixture between Hamburger SV and Bayer 04 Leverkusen has been postponed at short notice.
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Bayer 04 face Hamburger SV for the first time in almost eight years. Although the Hanseatic city team are often below par on the road, they are regularly in top form in front of their own fans. In particular, 18-year-old shooting star Luka Vuskovic is proving to be a real bonus for Merlin Polzin's team, both in attack and defence. However, that should not scare the Werkself: Not only was the last defeat against the newly promoted team 17 games ago, but Kasper Hjulmand's players are in with a chance of securing their fifth win in six games against HSV. Today’s matchday news.
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