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.
With their wonderful goals, Martin Terrier and Florian Wirtz are up for the Bundesliga Goal of the Year 2025. Voting for fans will run exclusively via the official Bundesliga app until Sunday, 4 January.
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The ‘year after’ the most successful year in the club's history brought many changes at Bayer 04. In an exclusive double interview with bayer04.de shortly before the Christmas break, Fernando Carro and Simon Rolfes spoke about building a new team capable of winning trophies, the work of coach Kasper Hjulmand, the young new signings who have quickly developed into key players, and their personal plans for the Christmas holidays. Their outlook for the coming year also shows that the potential is far from exhausted and ambitions remain high.
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Last-minute ecstasy, huge disappointment and a historic performance on the European stage - 2025 was a real emotional roller coaster, especially for the U19s. A rousing run in the knockout phase secured the team a place in the final of the German championships, where they lost by the narrowest of margins. Despite the departure of several key players, the young Werkself team quickly regained their usual strength and qualified for the knockout rounds in the UEFA Youth League for the first time at the end of the year. In 2025, youngsters Jeremiah Mensah and Montrell Culbreath made their debuts in the Bundesliga, the DFB Pokal and the UEFA Champions League. The other youth teams also contributed great performances and a number of trophies to the collective Black and Red success, while the successful Bayer 04 Future Kids project broke new ground. Read on for the 2025 review of the youth teams.
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Four Bayer 04 players are in action at the 35th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations being played in Morocco from 21 December to 18 January 2026: Eliesse Ben Seghir for the hosts, Edmond Tapsoba with Burkina Faso, Ibrahim Maza for Algeria and Christian Kofane with Cameroon. Updates on the AFCON matches involving Werkself players...
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A memorable 12 months: 2025 was a year marked by success, intense competition and groundbreaking innovations for the #B04eSports team. After ending the 2024/25 season as runners-up, the Leverkusen-based console pros got down to business in a new, completely restructured season model, in which showdowns rather than divisions were the decisive factor on the road to the final round of the German Club Championship. Bayer 04 quickly earned a place in the history books of the most prestigious competition in German eSports and secured some valuable advantages for the coming year. Bayer04.de takes a look back at 12 months full of passion and the determination to take the next step.
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