After yesterday's return of Julian Brandt, Kai Havertz and Jonathan Tah increased the training group to twelve, head coach Heiko Herrlich welcomed back Issac Kiese Thelin and Jakub Bednarczyk on Wednesday afternoon. The other international players Charles Aránguiz, Lukas Hradecky, Aleksandar Dragovic, Tin Jedvaj and Paulinho are expected back tomorrow. And the skipper Lars Bender is also due to return to full training after training on his own in the last open session of the week as he had done in the days before. "We hope he can help us on Saturday. But we'll have to see how he gets on in training," said Heiko Herrlich. The same could apply to Charles Aránguiz who did play for 45 minutes with Chile on Tuesday. The Bayer 04 head coach is hoping the 29-year-old will be option for the trip to Munich.
Lukas Hradecky has also gained match practice over the past week. After the 28-year-old keeper missed most of the pre-season and the start of the league campaign due to an operation on his jaw in July, he played two full games for Finland on Saturday and Tuesday – and he was unbeatable. Goalkeeping coach David Thiel, who watched Lukas at the games, confirmed the recent positive impressions. There is little standing in the way of a Werkself debut for the new signing on Saturday as Herrlich revealed after the Wednesday training session.
Ahead of the game against FC Bayern, the 46-year-old coach has organised four training sessions for Thursday and Friday – all are to be held behind closed doors.
In the 3-2 defeat at Bundesliga newcomers SV 07 Elversberg, the Werkself found the back of the net in the closing stages and, with a bit of luck, could still have equalised. “Today, our play wasn’t good enough, particularly when it came to the basics,” said head coach Carles Martínez. Like the boss, Ibrahim Maza also wants to learn from the match and look ahead: “Next week, people should be able to see from the very first minute that we want it more than our opponents.” The Werkself review on the Bundesliga opener in 2026/27.
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No points to start the league campaign: Bayer 04 lost 3-2 away to newly promoted SV 07 Elversberg in the first Bundesliga match of the 2026/27 campaign. Two quick-fire goals from Lukas Petkov (8’) and Cole Campbell (10’) gave the hosts an early lead, before David Mokwa scored the Saarland side’s third shortly after half-time (46’). In the closing stages, the Werkself rallied and staged a late comeback with goals from Patrik Schick (77’) and Christian Kofane (90+1’), but the Black and Reds were denied an equaliser.
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The Black and Reds kick off the new Bundesliga campaign today, Saturday 29 August (kick-off 15:30 CEST), away to newly promoted SV 07 Elversberg – and the Werkself will come up against a familiar face who is currently causing a stir at ‘Elv’. For an affordable and easy journey to the Saarland, the 1,600 travelling fans can still use the WERKSELFgo car-share platform. Today’s matchday news..
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The European jersey has been launched, the UEL opponents have been drawn – and anticipation for the European campaign is running high. To mark the occasion, an autograph session was held on Friday afternoon, 28 August, at the Fanwelt with current Werkself player Montrell Culbreath and official club legend Paulo Sergio.
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Following their successful start away to RB Leipzig, the Bayer 04 women’s team are set to play their first home match of the new Bundesliga season on Sunday. The Werkself host VfL Wolfsburg at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium at 16:00 CEST. Coach Roberto Pätzold is hoping for a courageous performance against the seven-time German champions.
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