After yesterday's double shift to start the week, Heiko Herrlich led another training session with his players on Tuesday morning. Once again, the Werkself worked in sunshine under blue skies. "Everyone's up for it – it's clear to see everybody is fully motivated. Hats off to the lads for the way they're working," said head coach Heiko Herrlich in praise of his players. And not just that: Charles Aranguiz came onto the training ground 50 minutes later to complete a one-to-one session with the ball under fitness coach Daniel Jouvin. The Chilean has to take it easy due to persistent knee problems.
Finally, he has arrived: Two days after his eighteenth birthday on Sunday, new signing Paulinho is now in Leverkusen. After a 14-hour flight, the TAP Airline landed at Frankfurt Airport at 10.41 CET with Paulinho and five other family members on board. He was met by a Bayer 04 delegation. From there, the ICE train left at 11.55 for Cologne and then there was the short journey to the BayArena. At the home of the Werkself, he then met his fellow countryman Wendell and other future team-mates at 13.30. It remains to be seen when Paulinho will start training with the Werkself. "We don't want to overwork him and we'll have to see how he deals with jet lag. We will introduce him gradually and avoid going from nought to sixty with him," announced Herrlich and he ruled him out for tomorrow's friendly.
Shortly after Paulinho arrived, the Werkself and their coaches faced a flurry of camera flashes – the preliminary team photo was shot at the BayArena. At the command of the photographer, it was time for "heads up and smile." For the new signing from Brazil plus Lukas Hradecky, Mitchell Weiser, Thorsten Kirschbaum, and video analyst Marcel Daum it was the first team photo in Black and Red. And the currently injured Panagiotis Retsos also took part in the photo session – as did the U19 players Sam Schreck, Jakub Bednarczyk, Chinedu Ekene and Thomas Kucz. Absentees from the photo were World Cup player Julian Brandt and World Cup runner-up Tin Jedvaj plus the injured Joel Pohjanpalo. They are due to be on the final team photo planned for the end of August.
After the team photo was taken, there were more cameras waiting for Sven Bender, Leon Bailey and Co.: After Fortuna Düsseldorf and FC Schalke , Bayer 04 are the third Bundesliga club visited by the German Football League (DFL) this season for the so-called media day. In addition to video portraits, photoshoots and numerous shots for Sky, Eurosport and international TV broadcasters, the Werkself players were divided into groups of six (plus a group of coaches) for a range of challenges going on to early in the evening at the #BLMediaDay. The Werkself looked good in the team photo and other individual shots and events.
Heiko Herrlich's team have the first friendly of the pre-season on Wednesday: The opponents from the Rhineland Palatinate are SV Roßbach/Verscheid. The away game in Wiedbachtal is being staged for the 50th anniversary of the Rhineland Cup winners of 2012at the 'In der Au' sports ground in Roßbach/Wied. The match kicks off at 18.00 CET (live on Facebook). The Werkself will not only be playing in the new home kit for the first time but will also make their first journey on the new team bus.
Two Saturdays, one Friday and one Sunday: The dates for the Bayer 04 Women's team games on matchdays 16 to 19 have been finalised. Three of the four matches scheduled by the German Football Association (DFB) on Tuesday will be played at home at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium.
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The Werkself rang in the Black and Red festive season with an emotional visit to Klinikum Leverkusen. Kristin Kögel, Melissa Friedrich and Louisa Remien from the Bayer 04 Women's team and Jonas Hofmann, Janis Blaswich and Niklas Lomb from the first team visited the young patients on the children's ward and, for the first time, on the ‘Zeitinsel’ children's palliative care unit. They brought a host of lovingly wrapped presents ensuring a big surprise for young and old alike.
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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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