A sekt reception, live music and a room with a fireplace as the setting: The gala event in the hall of mirrors at Schloss Morsbroich was a fitting stage for the presentation for the outstanding athletes from Leverkusen and surroundings in 2022. "It fills us with pride to have so many top male and female athletes together here in Leverkusen. The concentration of quality is almost unique in Germany," declared Leverkusen's mayor Uwe Richrath.
The Werkself player Exequiel Palacios was accompanied by his father and brother, teammate Florian Wirtz by his sisters. Lisanne Gräwe arrived with the Bayer 04 players and Florian Wirtz’ sister Juliane Wirtz - a teammate of Gräwe in the Leverkusen Women's team. Both Wirtz and Gräwe received the Fritz Walter gold medal last November while Palacios won the World Cup with Argentina just before Christmas.
The welcome address from mayor Richrath was followed by interviews on stage with the athletes present including Leverkusen-born WIBF world champion Dilar Kisikyol and the Paralympian rower Marc Lembeck.
The athletes of the the Werkself were joined at Schloss Morsbroich by Fernando Carro, chairman of the board at Bayer 04. The Spaniard said: "The City of Leverkusen is a very important partner for us. Being entered in the Golden Book is a very special honour and shows the close connection between Bayer 04 and the City of Leverkusen."
The final part of the interviews brought the Bayer 04 trio onto the stage with a short conversation followed by the highlight of the evening for Palacios, Gräwe and Wirtz: Being entered in the Golden Book. The Werkself player Florian Wirtz explained: "There are lots of great athletes here and there were some very interesting discussions."
Group photos, autographs and a joint evening meal rounded off the event.
For the third time in a row, the Leverkusen eSports players have made it through to the final round of the VBL Club Championship. From 7 to 8 March, they will compete for the German Club Championship at XPERION in Hamburg. At the start of the final round, they face Hamburger SV in the Round of 16. The match starts at 19:30 CET on Saturday, 7 March and will be broadcast live on the VBL Twitch channel. The eSports preview.
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"We played with pace and patience today. That was the decisive factor," said managing director sport Simon Rolfes following the 1-0 win at Hamburger SV in the rearranged match on Wednesday night. Although the Werkself still had room for improvement in terms of capitalising on their chances against the Red Shorts, they produced a different display to last time out and were rewarded for a concentrated performance over 90 minutes. The Werkself review features reaction to the game, including from a happy starting XI debutant, as well as the match stats.
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Werkself TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04's 1-0 win in rearranged match at Hamburger SV on Matchday 17 of the 2025/26 Bundesliga season...
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The second attempt was a successful one: the Werkself won 1-0 at Hamburger SV in the rearranged Bundesliga Matchday 17 encounter. Head coach Kasper Hjulmand's side dominated play from the start and eventually scored the winning goal through Christian Kofane in the 73rd minute.
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