The playing surface at the home ground of the Werkself has been named Pitch of the Year for the 2021/22 season by the DFL (German Football League). The award has been made since 2013/14 in the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 for the outstanding quality of pitches. The winners are determined by marks from the team captains and referees on the condition of the pitch over the whole season as well as a range of measurements taken by an expert committee and testing by the stadium ground staff.
Bayer 04 receive the award for a second time. The first time for the Werkself was in the 2017/18 season. It's a title not only won by the pitch at the BayArena. The Ulrich Haberland Stadium and the Kurtekotten Performance Centre have twice been voted Pitch of the Year as home grounds for the Bayer 04 Women's team. Since the 2019/20 season, the German Football Association (DFB) has also made an award for the highest quality pitch in the Women's Bundesliga over the course of a whole season. Both the first award and the one for the 2020/21 season went to Leverkusen.
31 in total – that is the number of goals the Bayer 04 Women's team scored last season in the FLYERALARM Women's Bundesliga. From long-range shots into the top corner, through converted penalties and tap-ins from close range – they are all there. Milena Nikolic proved to be the most prolific scorer for the Black and Reds with a total of seven goals. A compilation of all the goals are available to watch again and enjoy HERE on the club's platforms.
The sports tribunal of the German Football Association (DFB) has imposed a fine in the sum of €6,250 on Bayer 04 in a single judge hearing following an indictment by the DFB control committee due to unsporting behaviour by their supporters. Immediately before kick-off in the Bundesliga match at Greuther Fürth (4-1), Leverkusen supporters let off at least five flares. That meant the kick-off was delayed by one and a half minutes.
Borussia Dortmund (€16,450) and Erzgebirge Aue (€9,200) were also fined due to flares being let off by their supporters.
The editors of the sports journal Kicker have published the rankings for the two remaining groups of positions for the first half of 2022. In the category of ‘Offensive wing players’, Werkself player Moussa Diaby finished second behind Eintracht Frankfurt’s Filip Kostic. The 22-year-old Frenchman stood out mainly with his impressive return of eight goals and seven assists in 17 matches in the Bundesliga Rückrunde and he was named in the ‘International class’.
Teammate Paulinho also made it into the rankings of the best attacking players on the wings and finished in seventh place. Ten starts, "good solutions in space", the ability to pick out teammates plus a match-winning brace against VfL Wolfsburg (2-0) put the Werkself number seven in the so-called ‘National class’
Amongst the strikers, Patrik Schick was third in the ‘International class’ behind Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandowski and Red Bull Leipzig's Christopher Nkunku. The reasoning: "Patrik Schick was not completely able to build on to his performances in the Hinrunde. That was primarily due to his injury on matchday 23 that meant he missed four games." Patrik scored eight goals in 13 Rückrunde games compared with 16 goals in 14 games in the Hinrunde.
At the summit of the Mexican league MX on Wednesday 8 June, an interview with Fernando Carro, Bayer 04 CEO, was broadcast in the context of the #Bayer04MexicoTour. The Werkself spent six days in the country in the middle of May as part of the celebrations for the centenary of Bayer AG in Mexico with a friendly against the top-flight side Deportivo Toluca plus a range of PR events. The aim of the tour was to promote and extend the strong and long-standing relationship with the country of Mexico, with its people and Bayer AG. The whole interview (in Spanish) is available HERE.
The former Werkself player Rudolf Wojtowicz today celebrates his 66th birthday – many happy returns. The defender joined Leverkusen for the 1982/83 season from the then top Polish club Szombierki Bytom. The former Poland international played 80 games for the Black and Reds in four seasons. Wojtowicz now works for VfL Wolfsburg as a scout.
“Year after year, this is an incredibly valuable gathering, both in terms of the content covered and the opportunity for mutual discussion,” stressed Bayer 04 goalkeeping coach David Thiel in his welcoming address at this year’s goalkeeping coaches’ meeting. This was the third time in four seasons that the event had been held at the BayArena. Organised by the German Football Association (DFB), the meeting brought together goalkeeping coaches from the Bundesliga, Bundesliga 2 and the 3rd division from the west region. For the first time this year, goalkeeping coaches from the youth performance centres (NLZ) were also present. Bayer 04 fitness coach Markus Müller provided fascinating insights into the specific fitness training carried out with the Werkself’s goalkeepers.
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It was another incredibly close call in the end: The second showdown in the 2026/27 VBL Club Championship saw the #B04eSports team once again narrowly miss out on a place in the top 16 of the preliminary round – and with it, a spot in the in-person knockout stage. It was a bitter blow: Marc and Sean Landwehr again fell just short, despite being level on points with their rivals. As was the case last month, their weaker record across the twelve individual matches in the six preliminary round fixtures proved decisive.
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“They stuck with us over the past few weeks when things weren’t going so well,” said captain Edmond Tapsoba, thanking the fans for their support after the 2–1 win in Cologne and dedicating the derby victory to them. Throughout the 90 minutes, the Werkself had looked unfazed and in command, inflicting the first home defeat of the season on FC Köln. It was the sixth consecutive win against the Cologne team for Bayer 04 – head coach Carles Martínez, on the other hand, was facing the team from the neighbouring city for the first time and “now really knows what this derby win means”. The Werkself derby review.
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Following the 2–1 derby victory away at FC Köln on Bundesliga matchday 9, Edmond Tapsoba, Malik Tillman and Aleix Garcia spoke to Werkself TV...
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Werkself TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04's 2-1 derby win at 1. FC Köln Matchday 9 of the 2026/27 Bundesliga season...
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