
It is the pride and joy of Alexander Wagner, head chef for the first team. Up to now, preparation of food for the hungry players has been a long drawn-out procedure: The cooking was done in the Barmenia Lounge in the South Stand at the BayArena and then the food was consumed in the Werkself Bistro in the West Stand. That meant the food had to be transported from A to B several times every day and then the empty plates, pots and bowls etc had to make the reverse journey. From this summer, cooking has been done directly next to the Bistro. The old common room for the first team squad has been converted into a state-of-the-art kitchen.
That required installing ducts from the cellar to the second floor to lay the utility lines. An air conditioning system has also been installed in the kitchen – with a huge device on the roof that controls airflow. That ensures there is always a constant temperature at the ovens – whether that's in the summer, winter, working flat out or on days off: It is always around 18°C. That makes work more pleasant and the chefs don't break sweat so quickly.



All the equipment is new as well: Wagner and his team have a steamer with a capacity of 60 litres, a dry vapour cooker with flash freezing facility, a 'Self Cooking Center' for boiling, frying or baking, a salamander cooker for grilling and a new dishwasher with high pressure cleaning with cold water feed and an automatic dosing system.











The neighbouring dining area has not been changed. In the trendy bistro with its clean look, the players have their breakfast, lunch and/or evening meal – depending on the timing of training sessions. Food preparation can also be seen in the new show cooking area with pancakes, fried eggs, omelettes or pasta dishes freshly prepared and directly served the players. Five modules – including induction hob, grill or chiller – are available here and can be exchanged as required.










The storage area is also new. The old electrics room has been retiled and designed according to the HACCP concept. HACCP stands for Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point – hazard analysis and the checking of all critical points at every stage in the preparation, process, storage and handling of foodstuffs. All the food is stored in freezers, walk-in refrigerator and chilling area. Temperatures are controlled and recorded two or three times a day – this happens automatically thanks to state-of-the-art computer technology and the data is transmitted via Wi-Fi.
A professional kitchen – for the professional players.




In the previous game against RB Leipzig in December last year, the Werkself turned came from behind to win 3-1 and further improved Leverkusen's already strong record against the Red Bulls. Montrell Culbreath stood out with his first goal on his debut for the Black and Reds. While the 18-year-old would certainly like to score a second goal against Leipzig on Saturday night, the attack-minded visitors come to the BayArena in confident mood after five Bundesliga victories in a row. The Nordkurve12 supporters group knows the Werkself will therefore once again be reliant on the vociferous support of the fans, and has once again called for the ‘Finally Red’ campaign in the run-in. Today’s matchday news.
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Video games manufacturer Electronic Arts (EA), together with the German Football League (DFL), announced the top male and female selections for the 2025/26 Bundesliga season this week. Bayer 04 striker Vanessa Fudalla is in the starting eleven of the women's "Team of the Season". Alejandro Grimaldo and Aleix Garcia have been selected as bench players in the men's team.
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This special event showed once again how strong Bayer 04 are as a team: As part of ‘BarmeniaGothaer gives joy’, the Werkself players Edmond Tapsoba, Ibrahim Maza and Christian Kofane supported the sale of individually designed T-shirts for a good cause at the Fanwelt on Thursday. Several hundred fans came to take part in the charity campaign. Leverkusen's main sponsor BarmeniaGothaer donated the proceeds to the Fondation Edmond Tapsoba, which helps people in Tapsoba's home country of Burkina Faso in their challenging everyday lives.
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With three games to play before the end of the season, the Bayer 04 Women can break one record and equal another at SGS Essen. After three wins on the bounce, coach Roberto Pätzold's team are aiming to maintain the chance of third place in Sunday’s away game (14:00 CEST, Stadion an der Hafenstraße).
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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 personalised 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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