While the last three players named, who played for 90 minutes on Sunday, spent their time working in the gym at the BayArena, Lukas Hradecky joined his team-mates on the training ground in cold temperatures. The recently decimated Werkself squad should be back up to strength on Thursday. "The most important thing is that everybody comes back fit and well," said Heiko Herrlich – above all in view of the important home game against VfB Stuttgart on Friday night (23 November, 20.30 CET). "We are well aware we have ground to make up – we want to produce a top performance for our fans," said the Werkself head coach. He will probably be able to call on Karim Bellarabi again following his muscle problems as he trained on Tuesday morning without any after-effects.
Autumn is here! The season is clearly here as evidenced by the increasingly bald trees and not least by the colourful foliage. Talking about being colourful! After the BayArena was lit up in purple last Saturday To mark World Prematurity Day, the Werkself ground will be lit up in orange on Sunday night between 17.00 and 22.0 CET. The reason is a campaign by the Zonta Clubs , "Orange your city" on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women with the Werkself involved on the initiative of the Zonta Club Leverkusen. Across the city, in addition to the BayArena, the water tower on the motorway junction, the 'Leverkugel' of the Sparkasse and the crossings of the B8 at the Chempark will also be lit up in orange.
The team captain Lars Bender was a guest on the Werkself Podcast on Tuesday afternoon with the presenter Cedrick Pick. The tenth episode saw the 28-year-old, who has made 282 appearances for Bayer 04 since 2009, look back at his whole career – in particular the time with the Werkself. In addition to his relationship with the club and the city of Leverkusen, the defensive all-rounder also provided insights into winning the silver medal at the 2016 Olympic Games as well as missing out on the 2014 World Cup. The podcast will soon be available.
With his 60 Bundesliga goals, Kevin Volland has demonstrated he really has the ability to shoot with football boots on. Following Lukas Hradecky in October, the Werkself number 31 took part in the Sky Sport programme "My 11 - The playlist of the football stars" and in conversation with the presenter Maik Nöcker he revealed in a relaxed atmosphere the songs he most likes to hear and what they mean to him.
Werkself-TV shows the highlights of the Bayer 04 women's 1-2 loss against VfL Wolfsburg on the 2nd matchday of the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga 2026/27.
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Bayer 04’s eight opponents in the group stage of the 2026/27 UEFA Europa League have been confirmed. At the draw on Friday 28 August held at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco, the Werkself were drawn against two opponents from each of the four pots. There are a total of four home and four away matches. Read on for details of opponents and fixture dates.
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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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Werkself TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04's 2-3 loss at SV 07 Elversberg on Matchday 1 of the 2026/27 Bundesliga season...
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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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