The men who are in the running for the best XI of the last year are Florian Wirtz, Granit Xhaka, Jonathan Tah, Alejandro Grimaldo and Jeremie Frimpong. The quintet were previously voted into the Bundesliga Team of the Season last year. The five Bayer 04 players were also shortlisted for the Men's 11 in The Best FIFA Football Awards.
Meanwhile, Kristin Kögel of Bayer 04 Women is up for the female top XI of 2024. The Women's Team of the Year is being awarded for the second time this year, with Kögel the first Leverkusen player to be nominated.
The Men's Team of the Year will be selected from over 80 players, while there are a total of 70 women's players to choose from. Both teams will consist of one goalkeeper, four defenders, three midfielders and three attackers. In both cases, a twelfth TOTY card is also chosen. In addition, EA Sports traditionally awards other players with TOTY cards as ‘Honourable Mentions’.
The vote runs until Monday 13 January, with the final TOTYs being announced successively by position from 17 January.
Werkself TV shows the highlights of the 4-0 victory in the friendly match against KRC Genk...
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In their third friendly of this pre-season, Bayer 04 played on home soil for the first time – and won there too! The Werkself claimed a comfortable 4-0 victory against Belgian top-flight side KRC Genk at the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion. Jeanuel Belocian (9’) and Nathan Tella (42’) gave a dominant Leverkusen a 2-0 lead at the break, which Afonso Moreira (51’) and Christian Kofane (53’) doubled after the break. Among the many second-half substitutions was Patrik Schick, who made his first friendly appearance of the summer.
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The Werkself continue their 2026/27 pre-season preparations with their third friendly against Belgian top-flight side KRC Genk at the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion on Wednesday 29 July (kick-off 15:00 CEST). Werkself-TV is broadcasting the match live and in full in a stream from 14:50 CEST...
After the children from the Bayer 04 Football Academy grilled Janis Blaswich and Simeon Rapsch last week, another group of 20 young Werkself fans gathered at the BayArena press conference room on Tuesday afternoon, 28 July . This time, the kids directed their questions at Tim Oermann and Jonah Berghoff. Defender Oermann raved about his school days, whilst talented midfielder Berghoff revealed to the young footballers, amongst other things, who his favourite player is – and he is also at Bayer 04. To round things off, the pair naturally obliged with all requests for autographs and selfies.
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Bayer 04 are back on the pitch. Following the first training sessions, the Werkself play the first pre-season friendly on Saturday, July 18. The match against Oberliga club Sportfreunde Baumberg kicks off at 15:30 CEST in Monheim am Rhein. Fans unable to attend the match can watch head coach Carles Martínez’s first game in charge for free via a livestream at bayer04.de and on the Bayer 04 app, as well as on Werkself.tv (exclusively for members). Just log on and watch the games live. All the other Werkself preseason friendlies leading up to the 2026/27 season will also be streamed live for free.
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