
"The team have been deeply involved with this catastrophe over the past few days. There have been a lot of discussions here in the training camp in Austria and all of them are affected given the suffering that the floods have brought to so many people," said head coach Gerardo Seoane. "The lads want to play their part in helping out and therefore we have decided together that we will play a benefit match at the earliest opportunity in aid of the victims. Where and when still has to be planned in detail. But we, as Bayer 04 Leverkusen, want to show our solidarity like so many other people."
The Bayer 04 Veterans will also play a benefit match in support of the flood victims. On Tuesday, 27 July (kick-off: 18.00 CEST) the former Werkself players will be in action at Wiedbachtaler Sportfreunden Neitersen. The match will be played in Neitersen at the Auf der Emma sports ground. The Bayer 04 team will include former players Jens Nowotny, Ramazan Özcan and Hanno Balitsch.
In addition to the match against the Sportfreunde, the Veterans will also play in Leichlingen. The sports ground was also damaged by the floods. Further information on the date of the match and the opposition is to follow.

Rüdiger Vollborn has been at the club for 40 years, he holds the record number of Bundesliga appearances for the club (401) and is the only Bayer 04 player to have won both the UEFA Cup (1988) and the DFB Pokal (1993). And the Berliner stayed with the Werkself after ending his impressive playing career as he worked as a goalkeeping coach for the following nine years. Vollborn now works under the Bayer Cross as a fan liaison officer and club archivist. Since February 2021, the personalised Black and Red lexicon takes Werkself fans under the heading of 'Rudi recounts...' on a brief trip through the history of Bayer 04 every month.
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Kasper Hjulmand has led the Werkself back to winning ways and is back in the knockout phase of the UEFA Champions League with Bayer 04 after the 3-0 win against Villarreal on Wednesday evening. In an interview with the Werkself magazine at the BayArena in the team meeting room, directly opposite the dressing room, he provided some special insights for the current issue, which was published in January. A conversation with the 53-year-old coach about values, attitudes and personal experiences as well as interests outside of football.
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The thrilling 3-1 win for Bayer 04 against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Hinrunde is a fond memory for Alejandro Grimaldo, with his brace from free kicks, and coach Kasper Hjulmand, who was in the dugout under the Cross for the first time. Now comes the return fixture in the metropolis on the River Main and after going out of the DFB Pokal and the Champions League, the full focus at Eintracht, currently managed by two interim coaches, is now on the Bundesliga. For their part, the Werkself will do everything in their power to continue the longest winning run against a Bundesliga club. The matchday news.
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Bayer 04 have ended Artem Stepanov’s loan deal at Nürnberg and agreed a new loan to Utrecht in the Netherlands. The Ukrainian striker did not play as much as hoped for at the Bundesliga 2 club and will now continue his development in the Eredivisie for the rest of 2025/26.
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The draw for the knockout play-offs of the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League was made on Friday, 30 January and saw Bayer 04 paired with Olympiacos. It’s a reunion with the Greek side following the Werkself’s 2-0 loss in Athens on Matchday 7 of the league phase.
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