As usual, the pre-season starts with performance tests at the Werkstatt facility at the BayArena on Thursday and Friday, 5 and 6 July from 08.00 CET. While the tests are held behind closed doors, Werkself fans will have the chance to see their team on the training ground after the summer break. When the squad return to the training ground at 11.00 CET on Saturday 7 July, it will be the first run-out for new signings Lukas Hradecky, Mitchell Weiser and Thorsten Kirschbaum. The Brazilian Paulinho will join his team-mates on 15 July. The two players at World Cup, Tin Jedvaj, who is with Croatia for the quarter-final against Russia on Saturday, and Julian Brandt, on a well-deserved holiday after Germany's exit, will be at the training camp in Zell am See-Kaprun at the end of the month.
The Bayer 04 players will soon be back in the saddle after the return to work: Heiko Herrlich has organised a three-day 'training camp' on bikes for his players – definitely with one eye on focusing his group on the targets for the season ahead. The Werkself team start in Bad Bertrich and will complete the 200 kilometre ride back to Leverkusen in three stages: On Sunday 8 July from Bad Bertrich to Koblenz, on Monday from Koblenz to Bonn and finally, on Tuesday 10 July, the last leg from Bonn to the BayArena. That is followed by two days off on Wednesday and Thursday, 11 and 12 July, before an open training session back home at 16.00 CET on Friday 13 July.
In mid-August, the Werkself will set off on a four-day trip to England to play their final two friendly matches of the 2026/27 pre-season against Premier League clubs Nottingham Forest and Newcastle United. The match in Nottingham against the Tricky Trees is on Wednesday 12 August at 20:45 CEST (19:45 BST) at the City Ground. The game against the Magpies in Newcastle is on Saturday 15 August at 16:00 CEST (15:00 BST) at the atmospheric St James’ Park. Details on ticket sales for both matches.
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Black and Red talent development at the highest level – even off the pitch: Apprentices Jule Suermann, Leandra Bellia and Julia Niederheide have successfully completed their two- or three-year apprenticeships at the club. Bayer 04 honoured the trio at the BayArena on Tuesday.
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The Werkself return tomorrow, Tuesday 14 July (from 11:00 CEST at the BayArena; live stream on bayer04.de, the Bayer 04 app and YouTube), with new head coach Carles Martínez leading his first training session as part of the Bayer 04 set-up. His coaching team comprises a mix of new and long-standing colleagues.
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The Germany U19 team were beaten 2-0 by record champions Spain in the final of the U19 European Championship in Wales. Bayer 04 players Montrell Culbreath and Francis Onyeka (on loan at SV 07 Elversberg) were in the starting line-up and played the full 90 minutes.
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