In addition to the goalkeepers Lukas Hradecky and Patrick Pentz, Amine Adli, Sardar Azmoun, Adam Hlozek, Exequiel Palacios, Edmond Tapsoba plus Florian Wirtz returned to Leverkusen after international duty. New signing Jonas Hofmann, who joined Bayer 04 at the start of the month from league rivals Borussia Mönchengladbach, also returned to BayArena. The arrival of the international players produced happy faces and friendly greetings.
While the majority of the Werkself squad started with a 90-minute session in the gym at 10.30 CEST, Hofmann and Co. completed performance checks at the Werkstatt, the Bayer 04 rehab and training centre at the BayArena. The international players went through familiar medical tests and examinations as well as a range of diagnostic tests to check coordination, mobility and stability.
Granit Xhaka, who completed his first training sessions with the Werkself last week, also went through the performance tests.
The first training session of the week came in the afternoon with the Germany international Hofmann and the other international players also taking part after completing the performance tests. It was the first training session with the Werkself for the 31-year-old midfielder.
Head coach Xabi Alonso focused on passing in tight spaces at the start of the week. After an hour it was all over for Hofmann and Co. Following the intensive session, the players were happy to sign autographs and pose for selfies with the many fans in attendance omce again. The remaining members of he Werkself squad finished the day with a practice match.
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The other open training sessions on Tuesday (10.30 CEST), Wednesday (10.00 CEST) and Thursday (10.30 CEST) will be followed on Friday 21 July by the first friendly of the preseason. The Werkself play second division SC Paderborn 07 at the IMS Arena in Velbert. The kick-off is at 17.30 CEST and the match will be shown on Werkself TV, the Bayer 04 app and the club's YouTube channel free of charge.
Four Bayer 04 players are in action at the 35th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations being played in Morocco from 21 December to 18 January 2026: Eliesse Ben Seghir for the hosts, Edmond Tapsoba with Burkina Faso, Ibrahim Maza for Algeria and Christian Kofane with Cameroon. Updates on the AFCON matches involving Werkself players...
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Sustainability once again had many faces at Bayer 04 in 2025: In community activity, the club supported countless regional campaigns, including the Leverkusener Tafel, the Frauenennotruf Leverkusen e.V. and the homeless aid organisation "Kältegang". But the Black and Reds have also been involved in good causes around the world - including the Young Coaches training programmes in Uganda and Ecuador plus the Genuine World Cup in the USA, where the Inclusion Werkself competed. Bayer 04 was also fully committed to the environment and underwent external and independently certification in accordance with the European environmental management standard EMAS, for example, to analyse and optimise the club’s environmental efforts. Looking back at sustainability in 2025.
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Two Saturdays, one Friday and one Sunday: The dates for the Bayer 04 Women's team games on matchdays 16 to 19 have been finalised. Three of the four matches scheduled by the German Football Association (DFB) on Tuesday will be played at home at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium.
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Bayer 04 currently have a number of promising young talents on loan to various clubs in Europe with the aim of gaining match practice and furthering their individual development. Francis Onyeka and Farid Alfa-Ruprecht, for example, play for VfL Bochum 1848, while Artem Stepanov is a striker with 1. FC Nürnberg, coached by World Cup winner Miroslav Klose. Tim Oermann is a defender in the Austrian Bundesliga at top club SK Sturm Graz and Abdoulaye Faye is playing in France for FC Lorient, promoted to Ligue 1 this season. Bayer04.de reviews the first six months for the Leverkusen players out on loan.
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