
As in the double matchday on the last weekend of the training camp in Zell am See-Kaprun, with the games against Watford and SD Eibar, Peter Bosz will again divide his squad into two teams with both line-ups playing the full 90 minutes. "We are already further ahead than we were at the training camp and you could see that in today's training session. It was no walk in the park – it was really hard work. But that's what the pre-season has to be about," said the head coach. "On Sunday, we have to make sure we avoid the mistakes we made in the previous friendlies. We want to be better and work on our game."
Anybody wanting to get a double helping of the Werkself on Sunday can purchase tickets for the matchday for three euros at the Bayer 04 shop in Wiesdorf (Wiesdorfer Platz 9, 51373 Leverkusen) or at the Fan House (Breidenbachstraße 46, 51373 Leverkusen). Proceeds from the ticket sales will be donated to the Leverkusen Fan Project.
Our opponents:
Heracles Almelo:
Almelo finished seventh in the Eredivisie last season. The club top scorer was the Spanish striker Adrian Dalmau with 19 goals. The team is managed by Frank Wormuth, who previously worked for the DFB as the Germany U20 coach and also as head of coach training. Bayer 04 coach Peter Bosz was twice in charge at Heracles, from 2004 to 2006 plus 2010 to 2013. Almelo reached the third qualifying round of the Europa League in 2016 but were knocked out after two draws with FC Arouca (1-1 and 0-0).
Vitesse Arnhem:
Peter Bosz also coached Vitesse from 2013 to January 2016 before moving on to Israel to take the helm at Maccabi Tel Aviv. Arnhem were fifth in the Eredivisie last season but missed out on qualification for the Europa League in the play-offs with a 2-0 defeat against Utrecht. The top scorer in the league last term was Bryan Linssen with twelve goals and the Norwegian Martin Ödegaard, on loan from Real Madrid, found the back of the net eight times. In 2017, Vitesse won the Dutch domestic cup competition with a 2-0 victory in the final against AZ Alkmaar. The current Arnhem coach is Leonid Sluzki, who previously was the Russia coach at Euro 2016. Bayer 04 beat Vitesse 4-0 in a friendly during the pre-season in 2013.

A special afternoon at the Bayer 04 Football Academy autumn camp: At the Liga 20 indoor football centre, in the shadow of the BayArena, two Werkself women’s team players led a training session. Loreen Bender and Selina Ostermeier not only offered the young players advice and support, but also got stuck in themselves.
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The Werkself have reached at least the semi-finals of the DFB Pokal in each of the last three years. The Black-and-Reds would like to make it to the final four of the competition again this season, but to do that they'll need to overcome 1. FC Nürnberg in round two, who travel to the BayArena with momentum following a successful league campaign so far. However, Bayer have a 100 percent record at home in all competitions this season - and have also won six of their last seven home matches in the Pokal. The Matchday News.
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Back at home in the second round of the 2026/27 DFB Pokal, Bayer 04 host FC Nürnberg at the BayArena. The match against the current second-placed side in Bundesliga 2 is on Wednesday 28 October at 20:45 CET. Ahead of the game, head coach Carles Martínez spoke, amongst other things, about his anticipation of the clash in front of a home crowd. The Spaniard also commented on a number of personnel matters, including Ibrahim Maza and Montrell Culbreath, plus the visitors’ coach, Miroslav Klose.
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Now in their third season under head coach Miroslav Klose, FC Nürnberg are among the promotion contenders in Bundesliga 2. On Wednesday 28 October (kick-off: 20:45 CET), the team currently second in the table are away to Bayer 04 in the second round of the DFB Pokal. The lowdown on our next opponents.
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Werkself player Ibrahim Maza has been named in the top ten in the ‘Men’s Young Talent of the Year’ category for 2026. The 20-year-old was at the London Palladium on Monday evening for the 2026 Ballon d’Or awards ceremony. Fernando Carro, Bayer 04 CEO, also attended the ceremony. Lamine Yamal of Barcelona was named the winner in the ‘Men’s Young Talent of the Year’ category.
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