The #Bayer04MexicoTour is a highlight of the celebrations of the 100th anniversary of Bayer Mexico. The delegation was led by Arturo Sanchez (president of Bayer Consumer Health Latin America) and Mikel Arriola (president of the Mexican league MX) plus the management of the top-flight Mexican clubs Deportivo Toluca und Club América.
After arriving late on Friday evening, the group from Mexico received an insight into the world of Bayer 04 over the weekend. The programme included a guided tour of the BayArena, a U19 home game at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium as well as a visit to the Kurtekotten Performance Centre. The visitors received a presentation from Thomas Eichin, head of the Bayer 04 Performance Centre, on the professional structure and way of working in the youth and women sections at Bayer 04.
"The visit to the training ground was very interesting. It was exciting to see the level here and how professional the youth and women's teams are run," said Arturo Sanchez. "The whole infrastructure is impressive and shows the ambition here to work to achieve bigger targets."
After a number of discussions at the weekend on the planned projects, Monday took the group to the German Football League (DFL) in Frankfurt where Donata Hopfen, CEO of the DFL, explained the internationalisation strategy of the Bundesliga to the visitors. The visit was rounded off on Monday night at the BayArena watching the 2-0 home win for the Werkself against Eintracht Frankfurt.
The #Bayer04MexicoTour runs from 15 to 20 May in Mexico. The Werkself will play a friendly on Tuesday 17 May at the Estadio Nemesio Diez against the Mexican top-flight side Deportivo Toluca. In addition, a number of marketing and PR events are planned in the Mexican capital, plus discussions with representatives of the Mexican league and a cultural programme including visits to community facilities.
The Bayer 04 women’s team secured a win in the friendly during the international break. Without a total of eight international players, coach Roberto Pätzold’s team defeated Bundesliga 2 side Borussia Mönchengladbach 3–1 at the Kurtekotten Training Centre, thanks to goals from Lobke Loonen (1’, penalty), Caroline Kehrer (41') and Valentina Mädl (66').
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Bayer 04 will have to manage without striker Christian Kofane in the coming weeks. The 20-year-old sustained a muscle injury to his left thigh on international duty with the Cameroon national team during the recent international break. This will prevent him from playing in the upcoming Werkself matches.
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FSV Mainz 05 went into the international break on the back of an away win at Borussia Mönchengladbach. Currently sixth in the table, the Rheinhessen side – who have been impressive on the road – now aim to continue their good start to the Bundesliga campaign at home when they face the Werkself on Saturday, 10 October (kick-off: 15:30 CEST). In terms of squad selection, Urs Fischer once again has more options at his disposal. Up front, the Mainz coach is likely to continue relying on what is currently the league’s most successful strike partnership. The lowdown on our next opponents.
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Exciting experiences and exclusive insights into the Werkself and the BayArena awaited the young footballers from the BA04 Football Academy Guangzhou in China during their visit to the Rhineland this week. As well as taking part in a joint training session with the Bayer 04 Football Academy, the youngsters marvelled at the Bundesliga club’s stadium during a guided tour. The highlight of the visit was a private press conference with former Bayer 04 striker Stefan Kießling, during which he shared tips from his own career with the young players. On Saturday afternoon, 10 October, the group will round off their visit by supporting the Werkself in the away match in Mainz.
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Fans ask, Carolin Simon answers: As part of Bayer 04’s second Ask Me Anything (AMA) session on Reddit, the Leverkusen captain took questions from the community. The full-back, who returned to the club this summer after ten years away, set aside an hour and a half for the Q&A session with fans, offering a very personal insight into, amongst other things, her daily life as a footballer and her role as captain, as well as her passion for Pokémon.
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