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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The Werkself began 2026 with defeat, losing 4-1 at home to VfB Stuttgart on Matchday 16 of the 2025/26 Bundesliga. Jamie Leweling opened the scoring early, with Maximilian Mittelstädt making it 2-0 from a penalty before Leweling again and Deniz Undav increased the lead to 4-0 just before half-time. Alejandro Grimaldo's penalty reduced the deficit midway through the second period.
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen has gained a new partner in digital gaming platform Crown Coins, which joins the Bundesliga runners-up's Sponsors Club with immediate effect. The one-and-a-half-year contract runs until 30 June 2027.
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The Werkself host VfB Stuttgart this evening (10 January, 18:30 CET), a side whose recent Bundesliga form has been indifferent but who have regularly produced top performances in the DFB Pokal and UEFA Europa League, and who have a key player back in the squad in striker Ermedin Demirovic. Off the pitch, the BayArena faithful will be able to see the remaining stoppage time live on the video screens. The Matchday News.
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