On Saturday evening, the 17 travelling Bayer 04 players, in a good mood after three Bundesliga wins in succession, boarded the team bus for the journey to Frankfurt Airport. Jonathan Tah and Co. stayed overnight in an airport hotel before flying out to St Louis on Sunday morning. The Werkself met up with the Hamburg SV team in departures. The second division club also flew out to the USA on Sunday to spend several days in Los Angeles. There was time for a short chat between HSV player Tim Leibold (left in photo) and Robert Andrich before the plane for St Louis left German soil on time at 10.45 CET.
The Werkself players were able to catch up on an hour or two of sleep during the nine-hour direct flight and everybody was back on their feet on arrival in St Louis in the USA state of Missouri – where they received an ecstatic reception from Black and Red fans.
The players, coaching staff including manager Xabi Alonso plus the board took plenty of time out at the exit from the airport to sign autographs and pose for selfies with the fans. Fernando Carro, Bayer 04 CEO, spoke to American TV reporters: "St. Louis is an absolute football city. We are happy to finally be back here and play the opening match at the new St Louis CITYPARK Stadium on Wednesday."
Following a late lunch at the team hotel, several of the Werkself players headed off on the team bus to take a look at the newly built stadium.
The tour of the stadium of the future MLS club started with the training ground, which is also brand-new, located right next to the stadium with its state-of-the-art technology. The group including Kerem Demirbay, Nadiem Amiri, Florian Wirtz and Co. walked past the training pitch to have the first look at the CITYPARK Stadium.
After visiting the spacious home dressing room it was off to the pitch to take a closer look at the interior of the stadium. Amiri and Co. are set to play a friendly against St. Louis CITY SC on Wednesday to officially open the brand new venue (kick-off: 16 November, 19.00 local time/02.00 CET 17 November)..
Day two of the #Bayer04USATour starts for the players with a training session followed by media interviews at the training ground. The Black and Reds will then set off in the afternoon to the Bayer AG research centre in Chesterfield, 30 minutes away from the team hotel. That will be followed by a visit to the Soccer Clinics at Lou Fusz and the last part of the day in the evening with dinner at the city’s zoo.
Rüdiger Vollborn has been at the club for 40 years, he holds the record number of Bundesliga appearances for the club (401) and is the only Bayer 04 player to have won both the UEFA Cup (1988) and the DFB Pokal (1993). And the Berliner stayed with the Werkself after ending his impressive playing career as he worked as a goalkeeping coach for the following nine years. Vollborn now works under the Bayer Cross as a fan liaison officer and club archivist. Since February 2021, the personalised Black and Red lexicon takes Werkself fans under the heading of 'Rudi recounts...' on a brief trip through the history of Bayer 04 every month…
Show moreTo all Bayer 04 fans: The Fanwelt will be closed all day next Monday 30 June. This is due to preparations for the change of kit supplier from Castore to New Balance on Tuesday 1 July.
Show moreThe Norway U23 international Julie Jorde has completed the move from Bayer 04 Leverkusen to Brøndby IF. The twelve-time champions of Denmark have signed the midfielder on permanent terms after her loan move from the Bundesliga to Denmark in the winter.
Show moreIt is almost two years since Bayer 04 new signing Abdoulaye Faye first stepped foot into the BayArena as a player for the Swedish club BK Häcken in the opening match in the 2023/24 Europa League campaign. A day before his nineteenth birthday, the central defender did not play in the 4-0 win for the Werkself but it was "an incredible night" for him on 21 September 2023 as he explained in his first interview on bayer04.de. "I watched the players and saw the fans. I liked it." It was also the first European night early on in his career. He only joined the then champions of Sweden in the cold north of Europe from his home in Senegal a few weeks before that special moment. Bayer04.de profiles our new defender.
Show moreWelcome, Abdoulaye Faye. The 20-year-old Senegalese central defender joins Leverkusen from top-flight Swedish club BK Häcken. In his first interview he talks about his move to Bayer 04 and his targets with the Werkself.
Show more