
The Werkself will play "with the cross on the chest" at home in the new season. There will be a prominent red cross on the black home shirt That is an expression of the link to the Bayer Works, the source of both the club and the city of Leverkusen. The shirt has been available for a week at the online shop as well as at the Bayer 04 fan shops.
And the special design has gone down well with the fans. Compared with last year, nearly twice as many home shirts have been sold in the same period of time. The positive response is comparable with the enthusiastic reaction of the Leverkusen support to the Werkself home shirt two years ago. Back then, there was a reminder of the legendary Champions League season in 2001/02, when Bayer 04 reached the final against Real Madrid, with a home shirt with black and red stripes that immediately after its introduction led to a similar run as in this year.
Bayer 04 fans can look forward to the new 2023/24 away shirt this week. It will be launched on Friday morning 21 July and the Werkself will play in the new shirts for the first time in that evening's friendly against SC Paderborn. New signings Granit Xhaka, Jonas Hofmann and Alejandro Grimaldo are set to feature.
The kick-off at the IMS Arena in Velbert is at 17.30 CEST with tickets available to Bayer 04 fans from 16.00 CEST at counter four. And the new away kit will also be available on site.
Bayer 04 will present the third kit for the 2023/24 season on 9 August.

With 22 days to go until the start of the Bundesliga campaign, the Bayer 04 Women’s team have gained a fresh boost of confidence. In a friendly against Belgian top-flight side KRC Genk on Saturday afternoon, coach Roberto Pätzold’s team secured a 1–0 win. Lobke Loonen (20’) scored the winner for the Black and Reds at the Kurtekotten training centre.
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A successful fourth preseason friendly ahead of the start of the training camp: The Werkself secured a 3-0 victory over Rot-Weiss Essen at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium. The goals in what was a commanding and dominant performance by Leverkusen from the outset were scored by Ibrahim Maza (8'), Patrik Schick from the penalty spot (23’) and, in the second half, Montrell Culbreath with a header (79’). The team set off for their training camp in Blankenhain in the Weimarer Land region after the game.
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Rüdiger Vollborn has been at the club for 40 years, he holds the record number of Bundesliga appearances for the club (401) and is the only Bayer 04 player to have won both the UEFA Cup (1988) and the DFB Pokal (1993). And the Berliner stayed with the Werkself after ending his impressive playing career as he worked as a goalkeeping coach for the following nine years. Vollborn now works under the Bayer Cross as a fan liaison officer and club archivist. Since February 2021, the personal Black and Red lexicon takes Werkself fans under the heading of 'Rudi recounts...' on a brief trip through the history of Bayer 04 every month…
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You have voted – your ‘Team of the Quarter-Century’ has been decided! This historic selection, covering the period from 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2024, features honorary captains, Bundesliga champions, double winners and Champions League finalists. Edmond Tapsoba is the only player from the current Bayer 04 squad to make it into the starting XI, while his team-mate Patrik Schick is on the bench. Simon Rolfes, the current managing director sport, is also in the lie-up. A truly special team that brings together a quarter of a century of Bayer 04 history – and has left a decisive mark on the club.
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Following Patrik Schick, Mark Flekken, Ibrahim Maza and Kerim Alajbegovic earlier this week, the next World Cup participant is back on the training ground in Leverkusen: On Thursday 30 July, Malik Tillman rejoined the squad, completing his first training session under head coach Carles Martínez.
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