
The BayArena was lit up in purple for several hours on Tuesday night. For the fifth year in succession, Bayer 04 sent out a colourful signal for World Prematurity Day to raise awareness of the subject of premature births and the associated consequences for children and parents. In Germany, around 60,000 children are born premature every year. The Leverkusen Clinic, with an association with Bayer 04 for many years, is considered to be one of the most experienced maternity clinics in the region with 1,600 births per year. Over 80 premature babies weighing less than 1,500 grammes – including 40 premature babies weighing less than a thousand grammes – were cared for at the Leverkusen Clinic last year. Due to the especially high quality of care, even the smallest premature babies with a birth weight of 500 grammes or less survive. "Strong start for little heroes" is this year's motto for the worldwide information campaign that saw the involvement of the team from the mother and child centre at the Leverkusen Clinic, which is supported by Bayer 04.





Rudi Völler will be the guest on the Sky 90 TV programme on Sunday 22 November. In his weekly talk show, Patrick Wasserzier discusses the Bundesliga matchday for 90 minutes – the Werkself game away to Arminia Bielefeld will also be a topic for discussion. It starts at 11.30 CET – live and available for free on Sky Sport News HD as well as on a live stream at skysport.de.
The last international break of this year is slowly but surely drawing to a close. Only two Werkself players are in action with their national teams on Wednesday night: In the Nations League, Julian Baumgartlinger is set to play for Austria against Norway. Due to suspension, Aleksandar Dragovic left the Austria team at the weekend and is now training with the Werkself again after a negative coronavirus test on Tuesday. Keeper Lukas Hradecky with Finland is in Wales also in the Nations League. Both matches kick-off at 20.45 CET and are live on DAZN. Lucas Alario has already been able to set off on his return journey. Argentina beat Peru 2-0 overnight in a World Cup qualifier but our number 13 did not play.
Autumn is time for pumpkins, thought Alexander Wagner, head chef with the Werkself, and he has prepared a tasty pasta dish with pumpkin sauce together with the Bayer 04 health partner, BERGISCHE KRANKENKASSE. A genuine athletes dish as Wagner revealed as when he's cooking for the Peter Bosz team, he particularly pays attention to sufficient carbohydrates, proteins, fats and vitamins. In this video he shows the preparation step-by-step and the recipe is available to print in the comments section.
Black and Red congratulations on your 59th birthday, Alois Reinhardt. Never to be forgotten is his winning goal in the semi-final first leg of the 1988 UEFA Cup tie against Werder Bremen that also secured a place in the final after a goalless second leg. Reinhardt played for Bayer 04 from 1984 to 1991 and he also played for Germany while he was under the Bayer Cross.

Werkself-TV shows the highlights of the Bayer 04 women's 1-2 loss at VfL Wolfsburg on the 20th matchday of the Google Pixel Frauen-Bundesliga 2025/26.
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The Bundesliga home game against VfL Wolfsburg in the first half of the season was one of those classic ‘days to forget’ for Bayer 04 Women. It started with goalkeeper Charlotte Voll being shown a red card in the first minute of the game, and following a further sending-off, coach Roberto Pätzold's 9-women side ended up losing 5-1 to last season's runners-up. At 18.30 CET on Sunday, they'll have the chance to exact revenge at the AOK Stadium - and pick up valuable points in the race for third place.
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Bayern Munich come to the BayArena this Saturday with an 11-point lead in the Bundesliga as they look to take a step closer to the title. As imperious as they may seem, a weakness has emerged of late that the Werkself proved they can exploit in Wednesday’s 1-1 draw with Arsenal in the Champions League. Leverkusen are also looking to make it four Bundesliga home games unbeaten against the Bavarians. Here’s all you need to know ahead of the 15:30 CET kick-off in our matchday news.
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Another home game, another top opponent - another marker? Three days after their convincing performance in the 1-1 draw with Arsenal in the UEFA Champions League round of 16 first leg, Bayer 04 continue their Bundesliga campaign with an equally high-calibre fixture. Matchday 26 sees league leaders Bayern Munich visit the sold-out BayArena. Ahead of the clash, head coach Kasper Hjulmand spoke about a comparison between Arsenal and the Bavarians, Bayern's high-scoring performance in Europe's premier club competition and a return to the squad for one Werkself player.
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High spirits and previously untold stories: Around 100 Bayer 04 fans packed the Schwadbud fan pub in the east stand of the BayArena on Thursday evening to be there in person for the first instalment of the new series of events entitled “Rudi lädt ein” (Rudi invites you). They listened intently as long-serving Werkself players Gonzalo Castro and Stefan Kießling chatted with record appearance-maker Rüdiger Vollborn and presenter and stadium announcer Tobias Ufer about their many years together at the club, shared amusing anecdotes and revealed dressing room secrets. Anyone who missed the premiere can already look forward to the second instalment – on 12 May, Rudi will be testing the expert knowledge of Bayer 04 fans during a quiz night.
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