Bayer 04 stands for diversity, inclusion and integration and on the Holocaust Memorial Day as with any other day is clearly against every form of violence, extremism, racism, anti-Semitism and discrimination.
With the Day of remembrance in German football, DFB, state associations, professional and amateur clubs remember the victims of National Socialism. The day of remembrance was introduced by the 'Nie Wieder' (Never again) campaign to carry the message from the survivors of the former concentration camp at Dachau into the present and future.
On this day of remembrance, the German Football Museum in Dortmund has published an online biographical dictionary of persecuted Jewish football players, which Werkself legend Rüdiger Vollborn helped to compile. "Never forget!" has been created in cooperation with the network of German football museums and club archives and contains over 200 life stories and destinies. The digital collection can be accessed HERE free of charge.
At the Africa Cup of Nations, the Ivory Coast lost 5-4 on penalties in the Round of 16 against Egypt including Liverpool star Mo Salah and are now out of the competition. Werkself defender Odilon Kossounou did not feature.
Burkina Faso, with Bayer 04 player Edmond Tapsoba, are already through to the quarter-finals at AFCON with the next match on Sunday evening. Tapsoba and Co. went through with a 7-6 win on penalties against Gabon. The Black and Red number 12 played the full 90 minutes and also converted his penalty in style. They face Tunisia in the quarter-finals with the FC Köln player Ellyes Skhiri in their ranks. The kick-off on Saturday 29 January is at 20.00 CET. It will be broadcast live by the streaming service DAZN.
Bayer 04 congratulates Martin Kree on his 57th birthday. The former Werkself player wore the Black and Red shirt from 1989 to 1994. The central defender made 189 appearances, scored 27 goals and won the DFB Cup in 1993. The left-footer joined Borussia Dortmund for the 1994/95 season where he went on to win the Champions League and the World Club title three years later. Many happy returns.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen will have to manage without centre-back Edmond Tapsoba in the coming weeks. The Burkina Faso international returned to the Werkself from the Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco with a muscle injury.
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The Werkself are away to Hamburg SV at the end of the Hinrunde in the 2025/26 Bundesliga campaign. The match at the newly promoted club is on Tuesday night, 13 January (kick-off: 20:30 CET). Ahead of the first encounter with HSV since 2018, Kasper Hjulmand spoke about the strengths of the opponents, lessons learnt from the home defeat against VfB Stuttgart and provided a squad update.
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In Germany, the temperatures are currently around zero, leaving even professional footballers freezing - but not the Bayer 04 Women. Roberto Pätzold's team have fled the cold to the south and are preparing for the second half of the season at a training camp in the Algarve, almost 2,000 kilometres away from home as the crow flies. The Leverkusen squad landed in Faro on Saturday morning and have already completed the first three training sessions over the weekend.
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It was a disappointing Saturday night. The Werkself lost 4-1 to VfB Stuttgart to start the new year on Bundesliga matchday 16 in 2025/26, a result that left both players and fans disappointed. "We played without any passion," said Alejandro Grimaldo honestly afterwards. Teammate Jarell Quansah was even more self-critical, emphasising: "We were miles off it in the first half. You can't put in a performance like that, especially in front of our own fans and I can only apologise to them, to be honest." Read on for the reaction, facts and stats from the clash with VfB Stuttgart in the Werkself review.
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