
While the Werkself early risers opted for a hot-air balloon trip over the pyramids of Teotihuacán, nine players made their way to the Soccer Clinic Miguel Hidalgo. Moussa Diaby, Odilon Kossounou, Sardar Azmoun and Co. played football and joked with disadvantage kids for over an hour with both sides enjoying it immensely. The event was rounded off perfectly with an autograph session.







Back at the hotel, the majority of the Werkself players watched the Europa League final between Eintracht Frankfurt and Rangers. Under the Mexican midday sun – due to the time difference the final started at two o’clock in the afternoon in Mexico – Lukas Hradecky and Co. crossed their fingers for Eintracht on the roof terrace at the team hotel.
The Seoane team split into two groups for the final part of the day. The event was the Bayer Night. One half the players plus sporting director Simon Rolfes and head coach Gerardo Seoane met 200 employees of Bayer Crop Science first in the team hotel and then in the headquarters of Bayer Mexico.
Group 2 with the two managing directors Fernando Carro and Rudi Völler had a meet and greet with employees of Bayer Consumer Health. In a Bayer 04-branded hall in a hotel in the city, the Werkself players first held a photo and autograph session, clients of Bayer México Consumer Health and Pharmaceuticals bringing their Bayer 04 shirts with them to be signed by Exequiel Palacios, Piero Hincapie, Moussa Diaby and Co. That was followed by the Bayer Night in a relaxed atmosphere with a buffet, DJ and cocktail crash course. Odilon Kossounou and Edmond Tapsoba tested out the table football game and there was live music provided by a mariachi band.
The day begins from a Black and Red perspective early in the morning: Sporting managing director Rudi Völler and a small delegation including his successor Simon Rolfes will make a three-hour journey to Querétaro to visit an orphanage. The 62-year-old has been an ambassador for the Egidius Braun Foundation of the German Football Association (DFB) for several decades and they support the institution in Querétaro. Völler was there together with Reiner Calmund in 1999 and there have been many visits to the city north of Mexico City since then – most recently ten days ago.
The rest of the Black and Red delegation are set to visit a CSR Rehab Project where the players and coaches will help to clean up a football pitch. Sightseeing is on the agenda in the afternoon with a visit to the floating gardens of Xochimilo, with a boat trip planned at the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site.

Bayer 04 Leverkusen have appointed Carles Martínez Novell as the new head coach. The 42-year-old Spaniard worked for FC Toulouse in the French Ligue 1 until the end of the season. Martínez finished last term in ninth place with the club from the south of France. He will take over the Werkself on 1 July 2026 and has signed a contract to 30 June 2028. Martínez, whose contract with Toulouse expires at the end of the month, succeeds Kasper Hjulmand at Leverkusen, who is leaving the club after one season.
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Welcome to Leverkusen, Carles Martínez Novell. Bayer 04 have appointed the 42-year-old Spaniard as the new head coach on a contract to 2028. Martínez most recently worked for FC Toulouse in the French Ligue 1 until the end of the season. He previously spent four years at Barcelona's legendary academy La Masia in his home city. Bayer04.de introduces Martínez in more detail.
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Bayer 04 plans for the 2026/27 pre-season continue to take shape. The Werkself will kick off the new season in mid-July with the return to the training ground. The highlight will be the official season opener on 8 August at the BayArena, including a friendly against La Liga club Sevilla. Friendlies in Germany will take the team to neighbouring Monheim, Offenbach and Jena.
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Strengthening the Bayer 04 Leverkusen youth teams: Konstantinos Kotsifakis will join the Werkself from Bundesliga 2 club Hertha Berlin for the 2026/27 season, where he will be a permanent member of the Leverkusen U19 coaching set-up. The German-Greek will also take on an operational role in coaching the Bayer 04 Future Team. The 29-year-old was most recently head coach of the U17s at Hertha Berlin.
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Another award for the Bayer 04 head groundsman and staff: After coming top in the 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2024/25 seasons, the BayArena pitch came second in the Bundesliga Pitch of the Year ranking for the 2025/26 season. VfL Wolfsburg secured the top spot this year, with TSG Hoffenheim in third place.
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