
The man in the dark blue denim shirt looks into the eyes of readers with a confident and mischievous expression – Florian Wirtz is on the cover of the new Werkself-Magazin. ‘Der Straßenkicker’ (street footballer) is the headline on the report about the 20-year-old German international who has matured into a leader under the Cross this term and not just as a goalscorer of wonderful goals and brilliant assists but also an impressive midfield dynamo. The article on Wirtz is just one of the stories worth reading about the Werkself players: In a big interview, Alejandro Grimaldo reveals many interesting insights, and talks about his improved performances, the influence of diet on his form, his time at Barcelona and explains how his spectacular shooting technique works.“

"A defender who stands out" – this headline is above a portrait of Odilon Kossounou, who has developed brilliantly at the Werkself this season and is currently unavailable to the team due to the Africa Cup of Nations. Edition 45 of the Werkself-Magazin also contains an interview with Werner Wenning who has chaired the shareholders committee of Bayer 04 Fußball GmbH for 14 years. The Opladen-born club official talks about his own role, his great confidence in the management, a handshake with Xabi Alonso as well as the increased value of the club.
The historically successful Hinrunde for Bayer 04 with all the records and impressive numbers is listed in detail as well as other interesting facts from the Black and Red world: Patrik Schick describes his ideal player, Lukas Hradecky reveals which shirt has found pride of place on his living room wall. The upturn for the Leverkusen U19 team is also mentioned in the magazine as is the record to date of the Bayer 04 Women with striker Nikola Karczewska also sharing insights and trends from her home country of Poland. And readers can also learn what is in the memory box that Bayer 04 is taking to the senior citizens homes in the city.
All that and much more, full of fascinating photos as usual, is available as recommended reading for Bayer 04 fans in edition 45 of the Werkself-Magazin. The magazine has already been sent out to members and is now also available online.
Click here for the Werkself-Magazin #45!
The Werkself-Magazin has some new technical functions to make browsing even easier. These functions and how to use them are contained in the PDF document.

After being nominated for the Bundesliga Goal of the Year 2025, Martin Terrier's wonderful strike for the opener against FC Köln is now also up for selection for the ARD Sportschau Goal of the Month award for December 2025. Bayer 04 fans have until 19:00 CET on 10 January to vote for the French forward.
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After a break of almost two weeks, the Bayer 04 Women begin preparing for games in 2026 on Sunday. Bayer04.de provides an overview of the dates at the start of the second half of the season.
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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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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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