Farewell for trio – Lars Bender named honorary captain

Immediately before kick-off, the managing directors Fernando Carro and Rudi Völler plus sporting director Simon Rolfes will honour the brothers Lars and Sven Bender for their services to the Werkself. The twins have decided to end their impressive careers next week at the end of the current Bundesliga season.

Elsinger leaves 13 years

Sven Elsinger also ends his time at Leverkusen. The head of the physiotherapy section leaves Bayer 04 after 13 years to concentrate on his practice back home in Hessen.

Lars Bender named seventh honorary captain

Bayer 04 are saving a special accolade for Lars Bender for a later date. After twelve years in a Leverkusen shirt, including five as captain, the 32-year-old Bender has been named a Werkself honorary captain. "We will only make the official presentation when we can hopefully have spectators back at the BayArena next season and give Lars the celebratory and emotional stage he deserves," said Rudi Völler.

Lars Bender will then join Rüdiger Vollborn, Carsten Ramelow, Ulf Kirsten, Bernd Schneider, Simon Rolfes and Stefan Kießling as the seventh honorary captain at Bayer 04 Leverkusen. "It is difficult to imagine a professional footballer having greater identification with a club than Lars does with Bayer 04 Leverkusen. His loyalty and his attitude over the years were exceptional. We owe huge gratitude to Lars," declared Fernando Carro.

Ahead of the home game against Union Berlin, Lars Bender sends an emotional message to the Bayer 04 family in the BayArena Aktuell magazine. Click HERE for the free digital edition.