Kai Havertz left the Werkself to join the Blues in London with the then Chelsea head coach and club legend Frank Lampard immediately showing his confidence in the youngster. The Mariadorf-born player started in all of the first seven Premier League games for his new club and he provided two assists and scored one goal in the early part of the season. After a successful start to the campaign for the Blues and Havertz, the 21-year-old was laid low by a Covid-19 infection at the beginning of November.
He made his comeback in a phase where everything was not running smoothly for the Lampard team. Chelsea were only able to win three of their ten Premier League games between matchdays 10 and 19. Chelsea parted company with Lampard and brought in Thomas Tuchel. Havertz, who joined Bayer 04 when he was ten and progressed through all the junior teams before making his breakthrough with the Werkself senior squad, was able to show what he could do under the new coach as a centre forward or attacking midfielder and he has proved effective up front in Tuchel's 4-3-3 system.
Our former number 29 achieved his biggest success in the Champions League final against Manchester City – Havertz scored the only goal of the game on 29 May and was able to hoist probably the most desired trophy in the world into the night sky in Porto along with his teammates. A look at the stats shows: Kai Havertz has certainly established himself in his first season at Chelsea – the forward has scored nine goals and provided nine assists in his 45 games for the Blues.
Alongside Kai Havertz, Kevin Volland also accepted a new challenge abroad with a move to AS Monaco at the start of the 2020/21 season. The Ligue 1 club, with former Bayer 04 players Niko and Robert Kovac in charge of the team, wanted to get back on track after almost being relegated in 2018/19 and finishing ninth in the following season. The Kovac team succeeded in achieving that with the help of very good performances from Volland.
The team from the Principality were in the title race in France up to the end of the season and they finished third behind champions Lille (83 points) and the nine-time titleholders Paris Saint Germain (82 points). Monaco also reached the final of the French domestic cup but lost out 2-0 to PSG. The long-standing Werkself striker (2016-2020) scored two goals in the cup competition and Volland impressed in the league with 16 goals and eight assists which was recognised by Joachim Löw with his call up to the Germany squad for the European Championship finals.
Adrian Stanilewicz moved up to the Bayer 04 senior squad from the Kurtekotten youth set-up in 2019 and in the following season signed for SV Darmstadt to try his luck in the second division. The versatile defender made several brief appearances under the former Bayer 04 youth coach Markus Anfang and he started against SC Paderborn and twice against Erzgebirge Aue. The former Kurtekotten home-grown player has been suffering with a persistent knee injury since the start of April and is currently unavailable for the Lilies.
Joel Pohjanpalo played for the Werkself in the first match of the Bundesliga season against VfL Wolfsburg (0-0). 'Danger' then went out on loan to Bundesliga rivals Union Berlin where he played from matchday three. The Finnish striker scored on his Union debut against FSV Mainz 05 – and Pohjanpalo again scored for the Irons three games later.
The international teammate of the Werkself keeper Lukas Hradecky was then sidelined for eleven games with an ankle injury. After returning to the team, the 26-year-old made Union history: With his goals against Werder Bremen on matchday 31 between minutes 50 and 67, the Finn scored the first hat-trick in the Berlin club's Bundesliga history. Pohjanpalo ended the season in seventh place with Union Berlin with the Fischer team qualifying for Europe for the first time – Pohjanpalo played a big part in that with his six goals. Not least with his leveller at 1-1 at Leverkusen.
Bayer 04 central defender Panagiotis Retsos also went out on loan for a season joining the Ligue 1 club AS Saint-Etienne. The 22-year-old Greek has had a relatively sobering time in France. 'Panos' only made four appearances for the Green and Whites. Nevertheless: Retsos played the full 90 minutes in the league match against Paris Saint Germain against the exceptional strikers Neymar and Killian Mbappé and he succeeded in helping his team to secure a 1-1 draw against this year's Champions League semi-finalists.
For Ayman Azhil, who progressed to the Werkself first team through the Kurtekotten Performance Centre, the key requirement ahead of season 2020/21 was to gain match practice. The defensive midfielder went out on loan to the Eredivisie club RKC Waalwijk. Under the team coached by Fred Grim, he played against the top Dutch sides Ajax and PSV Eindhoven where he made a name for himself with an assist. In a possible 34 first division matches, Azhil made 22 appearances, mainly in central midfield. The young German-Moroccan was unable to play in the season run-in due to a muscle injury.
Traveling to North America for the World Cup this summer to see your favorite Bayer 04 players? Here’s a quick cheat sheet with thumbnail portraits and insider tips for each city from a local expert, so you can make the most of your visit and activities beyond the game!
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A fresh look for the BayArena: The Bayer 04 stadium will have new seating in the form of folding seats for the 2026/27 campaign that will ensure significantly improved seating comfort and simplified movement within the rows of seats. As part of routine replacement after 17 years, fans of the Werkself were able to purchase the existing seats, used to witness the first German league title in the club's history. In addition, a large proportion of the seats will be donated to charitable projects, primarily in the local region. Bayer 04 fans can look forward to new, functional folding seats for the season opener at the beginning of August - still in the club colours of black and red, of course. A glimpse at the BayArena during the refurbishment.
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On Monday evening, 8 June, around 250 people came to the Bürgerhaus Baumberg at the invitation of Bayer 04 to find out details of the new plans for the campus on Alfred-Nobel-Straße at an information event. More compact, greener and with many advantages for Monheim am Rhein - those are the aims. There were lively discussions for around three hours and some misunderstandings were cleared up.
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Werkself player Montrell Culbreath and Bayer 04 loanee Francis Onyeka are part of Germany's final squad for the U19 European Championships this summer. The tournament is in Wales from 24 June to 12 July.
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When Malik Tillman arrived at Bayer 04 Leverkusen from PSV Eindhoven last summer, he did more than just add attacking midfield strength to the team — he reconnected the club with a unique and understated American lineage that stretches back more than three decades.
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