Werkself supporters had the chance to vote. Under bundesliga-allstars.bayer04.de, participants had to put together an 18-man squad plus coach from 294 players and 25 coaches. Most votes went to Ulf Kirsten. 90.89 % of participants included 'Der Schwatte' in their squads. He was followed by Bernd 'Schnix' Schneider (90.02 %) and Stefan 'Kies' Kießling (82.39%). They led the starting eleven with the most votes: Rüdiger Vollborn – Lars Bender, Jens Nowotny, Lucio, Zé Roberto – Carsten Ramelow, Simon Rolfes – Bernd Schneider, Michael Ballack – Ulf Kirsten, Stefan Kießling.
The supporters only had one vote for the coaches. Christoph Daum (33.92%) led the way ahead of Jupp Heynckes (23.12%) and Klaus Toppmöller (12.37%). The fact that different fan generations took part in the vote is demonstrated by the following names. Jürgen Gelsdorf and Thomas Hörster are the only two promotion heroes of 1979 and the current Werkself squad has four players: Lars Bender, Julian Brandt, Kai Havertz and Jonathan Tah.
The last six players will definitely be there when Bayer 04 entertain Schalke 04 in the last home game of the season on Saturday, 11 May 2019. The last four will hopefully be on the pitch and the two promotion heroes in the stands. The management of Bayer 04 Leverkusen have invited the 'Bundesliga All Stars' voted for by the fans online to the match. They will watch the game from the stands and then review "40 years of the Bundesliga under the Bayer Cross'.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen finally reached the top flight on 13 May 1979. A 3-3 draw against Bayer 05 Uerdingen at the Ullrich Harberland Stadium saw the team coached by Willibert Kramer secure promotion to the top-flight in Germany. The adventure of the Bundesliga started on 11 August 1979 with an away game at Bayern Munich. Bayer 04 have remained in the top division since that day – in addition to the Werkself, only Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund share that record.
Goalkeepers: René Adler, Hans-Jörg Butt, Bernd Leno, Rüdiger Vollborn
Defence: Daniel Carvajal, Manuel Friedrich, Jürgen Gelsdorf, Thomas Hörster, Sami Hyypiä, Jorginho, Juan, Lucio, Jens Nowotny, Diego Placente, Jonathan Tah, Christian Wörns
Midfield: Michael Ballack, Lars Bender, Gonzalo Castro, Emerson, Kai Havertz, Toni Kroos, Hans-Peter Lehnhoff, Carsten Ramelow, Renato Augusto, Simon Rolfes, Bernd Schneider, Bernd Schuster, Arturo Vidal, Zé Roberto
Attack: Dimitar Berbatov, Julian Brandt, Bum-kun Cha, Stefan Kießling, Ulf Kirsten, Oliver Neuville, Paulo Sergio, Andreas Thom, Rudi Völler, Herbert Waas
Coaches: Christoph Daum, Peter Hermann, Jupp Heynckes, Erich Ribbeck, Klaus Toppmöller
Four Bayer 04 players are in action at the 35th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations being played in Morocco from 21 December to 18 January 2026: Eliesse Ben Seghir for the hosts, Edmond Tapsoba with Burkina Faso, Ibrahim Maza for Algeria and Christian Kofane with Cameroon. Updates on the AFCON matches involving Werkself players...
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Bayer 04 Women finish 2025 with the first game of the second half of the Google Pixel Bundesliga season as they host defending champions and league leaders Bayern Munich at the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion on Monday. Kick-off is at 18:00 CET. Here’s all you need to know ahead of the Matchday 14 encounter.
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The Werkself may have the festive season off, but four players will still be in action as they compete at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations. Eliesse Ben Seghir will open the 35th edition of the tournament with hosts Morocco on Sunday, 21 December. Edmond Tapsoba (Burkina Faso), Ibrahim Maza (Algeria) and Christian Kofane (Cameroon) are also going for continental glory.
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The media wanted to know if Malik Tillman had thought back in September and the team’s indifferent start to the season that they would go into the winter break in third place with 29 points from 15 games. His answer was short and clear: “Honestly, yes, because I simply believe in this team.” That team had just won 3-1 at RB Leipzig, who hadn’t dropped a single point at home previously this season. Here’s all the round-up from the game in our Werkself Review.
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