
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.

Werkself-TV shows the highlights of the Bayer 04 women's 1-2 loss at VfL Wolfsburg on the 20th matchday of the Google Pixel Frauen-Bundesliga 2025/26.
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The Bundesliga home game against VfL Wolfsburg in the first half of the season was one of those classic ‘days to forget’ for Bayer 04 Women. It started with goalkeeper Charlotte Voll being shown a red card in the first minute of the game, and following a further sending-off, coach Roberto Pätzold's 9-women side ended up losing 5-1 to last season's runners-up. At 18.30 CET on Sunday, they'll have the chance to exact revenge at the AOK Stadium - and pick up valuable points in the race for third place.
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Bayern Munich come to the BayArena this Saturday with an 11-point lead in the Bundesliga as they look to take a step closer to the title. As imperious as they may seem, a weakness has emerged of late that the Werkself proved they can exploit in Wednesday’s 1-1 draw with Arsenal in the Champions League. Leverkusen are also looking to make it four Bundesliga home games unbeaten against the Bavarians. Here’s all you need to know ahead of the 15:30 CET kick-off in our matchday news.
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Another home game, another top opponent - another marker? Three days after their convincing performance in the 1-1 draw with Arsenal in the UEFA Champions League round of 16 first leg, Bayer 04 continue their Bundesliga campaign with an equally high-calibre fixture. Matchday 26 sees league leaders Bayern Munich visit the sold-out BayArena. Ahead of the clash, head coach Kasper Hjulmand spoke about a comparison between Arsenal and the Bavarians, Bayern's high-scoring performance in Europe's premier club competition and a return to the squad for one Werkself player.
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High spirits and previously untold stories: Around 100 Bayer 04 fans packed the Schwadbud fan pub in the east stand of the BayArena on Thursday evening to be there in person for the first instalment of the new series of events entitled “Rudi lädt ein” (Rudi invites you). They listened intently as long-serving Werkself players Gonzalo Castro and Stefan Kießling chatted with record appearance-maker Rüdiger Vollborn and presenter and stadium announcer Tobias Ufer about their many years together at the club, shared amusing anecdotes and revealed dressing room secrets. Anyone who missed the premiere can already look forward to the second instalment – on 12 May, Rudi will be testing the expert knowledge of Bayer 04 fans during a quiz night.
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