
Schröder will finish working for Bayer 04 at the end of the year before taking up his new post as chairman of the board at FC Schalke 04 in the New Year.
Fernando Carro, CEO: "I'd like to thank Bernd Schröder both personally and on behalf of Bayer 04. He has always fulfilled his duties with great commitment and expert knowledge. Our job now is to distribute his duties, projects and processes of change onto other shoulders. We will take the necessary time to do that."
Bernd Schröder: "I've really felt at home in Leverkusen and in the circle of the Bayer 04 family in the past few years. Even though it's painful: I've consciously decided to take up a new and special challenge at FC Schalke 04. I wish Bayer 04 continuing success. And I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Fernando Carro who gave me this chance."

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 Werkself are away to Hamburg SV at the end of the Hinrunde in the 2025/26 Bundesliga campaign. The match at the newly promoted club is on Tuesday night, 13 January (kick-off: 20:30 CET). Ahead of the first encounter with HSV since 2018, Kasper Hjulmand spoke about the strengths of the opponents, lessons learnt from the home defeat against VfB Stuttgart and provided a squad update.
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In Germany, the temperatures are currently around zero, leaving even professional footballers freezing - but not the Bayer 04 Women. Roberto Pätzold's team have fled the cold to the south and are preparing for the second half of the season at a training camp in the Algarve, almost 2,000 kilometres away from home as the crow flies. The Leverkusen squad landed in Faro on Saturday morning and have already completed the first three training sessions over the weekend.
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It was a disappointing Saturday night. The Werkself lost 4-1 to VfB Stuttgart to start the new year on Bundesliga matchday 16 in 2025/26, a result that left both players and fans disappointed. "We played without any passion," said Alejandro Grimaldo honestly afterwards. Teammate Jarell Quansah was even more self-critical, emphasising: "We were miles off it in the first half. You can't put in a performance like that, especially in front of our own fans and I can only apologise to them, to be honest." Read on for the reaction, facts and stats from the clash with VfB Stuttgart in the Werkself review.
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