The Werkself training ground is gradually filling up. For the Wednesday training session, head coach Peter Bosz had 16 outfield players available. That did not include international players in action on Tuesday night. While Paulinho completed a couple of circuits on the training ground in the afternoon, Moussa Diaby, Lukas Hradecky and Joel Pohjanpalo had a chance to recover.
Lars Bender was back on the pitch with his team-mates and he is looking for the team to contribute to Kai Havertz not being confronted with exaggerated expectations. "We have to take the pressure off him a bit. He should feel that he is still a young and talented player. He can have games that aren't so great and moments where he doesn't shine," said the team captain an interview with Sky. Last season, Havertz played in all 34 Bundesliga games scoring 17 goals along the way. Recently he has found success with Germany with the goal to make it 2-0 against Argentina plus an assist in the game against Estonia..
Werkself pro Kevin Volland took the opportunity of a free weekend during the international break to head back home to Thalhofen bei Marktoberdorf in eastern Allgäu. There he went with family and friends to watch the district league derby between his hometown club FC Thalhofen and TV Erkheim. Even though the game ended in a 2-1 defeat, the spectators showed their appreciation when the stadium announcer informed them of the presence of the Bundesliga pro. Volland played for FC Thalhofen for ten years before moving on to Memmingen, Thannhausen, 1860 Munich and TSG Hoffenheim before joining Bayer 04.
Kai Havertz is the only German player nominated for the Golden Boy Award. The Italian sports journal 'Tuttosport' is making awards for the 17th time for the best U21 players in Europe. The Werkself number 29 has the chance on 16 December to become the second German pro after Mario Götze (2011) to pick up this prestigious award for young talented players. There is some famous competition. Jadon Sancho (Borussia Dortmund), Alphonso Davies (Bayern Munich) and Dejan Joveljic (Eintracht Frankfurt) from the Bundesliga join players from other top European leagues including Joao Felix (Atletico Madrid), Phil Foden (Manchester City) and title holder Mathijs de Ligt (Juventus) on a 20-man shortlist.
Every holiday has a Bayer 04 Soccer School. And once again during this autumn holiday week there are lots of kids in action in and around the BayArena. One high point of the week is the press conference with one of the Werkself protagonists. This week, the head of the first team section was the visitor: Sporting director Simon Rolfes fielded questions from 80 children. There he admitted he is no friend of the computer game FIFA. "I tried it out when I was playing. My team-mate back then Patrick Helmes introduced me to it and then after our game gave me a tip: 'Simon, leave it alone!' I've stuck to that." Instead, Rolfes preferred to read books and periodicals and since December 2018 he has been the sporting director at Bayer 04.
Former Bayer 04 pro Roberto Hilbert celebrates his 35th birthday today. Hilbert played for the Werkself from 2013 to 2017. In 78 appearances, the right back scored one goal and provided seven assists. He also gained eight caps for Germany. Hilbert finished his professional career at SpVgg Greuther Fürth and he has remained at the club since then. He plays for the reserve team and also works for the club as a youth coach.
Video game producer Electronic Arts (EA) has announced the nominees for the Men's and Women's Team of the Year (TOTY) for EA Sports FC 26. With Patrik Schick and Alejandro Grimaldo for the men and Vanessa Fudalla for the women, there are three Bayer 04 players included. Fans of the Black-and-Reds can vote for each top XI of 2025 from now until 18:59 CET on Monday 12 January.
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The long-standing successful collaboration between Bayer 04 and the transport service provider wupsi GmbH has been expanded: From January 2026, 100 wupsi bikes with Bayer 04 branding will be available for hire throughout the city of Leverkusen. They will complement the many existing offers and services that provide key support, especially for fans travelling to and from home matches at the BayArena.
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The Werkself are back! Following the two-week winter break, head coach Kasper Hjulmand's team began the new year with an open session on Sunday. After Robert Andrich and his teammates arrived in Leverkusen yesterday for the official check-in, they got back down to business a day later in front of around 1,200 fans at the Ulrich Haberland Stadion. The report from the Werkself's first session of 2026.
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In her debut season of 2024/25, Cornelia Kramer immediately became the top scorer for Bayer 04 Women. However, the Danish national team striker was stopped by an injury at the start of the new season. Now, just in time before the end of last year, she is fit again – and has extended her contract early until 2027. In this interview, the 23-year-old talks about the reasons for her decision and looks ahead.
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