Originally discovered as a tall, talented striker while playing for one of China’s top clubs Beijing Guoan, Chen played in Germany from 1998-2003. He started on a loan with Waldhof Mannheim before signing with Eintracht Frankfurt prior to the 1998 season. He played nearly 100 games in Frankfurt before spending his final year in Bundesliga 2. with FC St. Pauli. In 2002, Chen played for his national team at the 2002 World Cup, the first and only appearance for China at the World Cup.
As part of his visit for the day, Chen explored the club’s facilities and met with Shen Menglu, the Chinese international currently playing for Bayer 04’s women’s team.
Together, Chen and Shen toured the BayArena, where they discussed their experiences as Chinese professionals in German football and exchanged thoughts on the evolution of the pro game in their home country. They also took part in a lighthearted kick-around in the stadium, visited the press and matchday areas before a stop at Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion next door, where Shen plays her games with the Bayer 04 Women.
The visit concluded at the Bayer 04 Fanwelt, where Chen viewed club memorabilia and the recent 2024 trophies. As a gesture of friendship, Shen presented Chen with a personalized Bayer 04 jersey. Two signed jerseys from both players will be given away via Chen’s Douyin account, promoting Bayer 04 and the Bundesliga to Chinese sports fans.
“We had the great honor of visiting the stadium and the locker rooms and we hope that through this experience, Bayer Leverkusen’s tradition and culture can be shared even more with Chinese fans,” said Chen. “I sincerely hope that the collaboration between Bayer Leverkusen, China, and Chinese football fans continues to grow stronger and more diverse.”
This special event showed once again how strong Bayer 04 are as a team: As part of ‘BarmeniaGothaer gives joy’, the Werkself players Edmond Tapsoba, Ibrahim Maza and Christian Kofane supported the sale of individually designed T-shirts for a good cause at the Fanwelt on Thursday. Several hundred fans came to take part in the charity campaign. Leverkusen's main sponsor BarmeniaGothaer donated the proceeds to the Fondation Edmond Tapsoba, which helps people in Tapsoba's home country of Burkina Faso in their challenging everyday lives.
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With three games to play before the end of the season, the Bayer 04 Women can break one record and equal another at SGS Essen. After three wins on the bounce, coach Roberto Pätzold's team are aiming to maintain the chance of third place in Sunday’s away game (14:00 CEST, Stadion an der Hafenstraße).
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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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From Ouagadougou to Leverkusen – and back: in March, Bayer 04 travelled with Edmond Tapsoba for a special project in his homeland Burkina Faso. The country where his roots and heart lie. The country where he’s more than a world-class defender: a symbol of hope and a role model for an entire generation. The result is a 45-minute documentary about Tapsoba’s long journey from Africa via Portugal to Leverkusen, which offers extraordinary, one-off and emotional insights.
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Edmond Tapsoba has signed an early extension to his contract with Bayer 04 Leverkusen. With two years left on his current deal, the 27-year-old Burkina Faso international has extended his contract until 30 June 2031. The centre-back joined as a young talent from Portuguese top-flight club Vitoria Guimaraes at the start of 2020.
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