He knows what makes the Black and Yellows tick: Kerem Demirbay, under the Bayer Cross for two years, spent most of his youth career at BVB. Ahead of the top match between the Werkself and Borussia Dortmund on Saturday, 11 September (kick-off: 15.30 CEST), the 28-year-old also talked about which game for BVB he remembers best. What Demirbay expects from the visitors and what his targets are for the game at the BayArena, can be found on the brand new Bayer 04 app. You can download it HERE.
Like several of their teammates at the start of the week, Florian Wirtz and Panos Retsos have ended their international duty. Youngster Wirtz played for Germany against Iceland. The team under head coach Hansi Flick mastered their challenge comfortably with a 4-0 win.
The visitors, with Bayer 04 homegrown talent Kai Havertz (now at Chelsea) coming on at the start of the second half, did not concede for the third game in succession. The 18-year-old Wirtz again came off the bench, as in the previous two games, this time replacing Leon Goretzka on 80 minutes.
Like Germany, Greece were winners in the third and final game in the current international break. The match in Athens against Sweden ended in a 2-1 victory. Werkself central defender Panos Retsos was on the subs bench for the full 90 minutes.
Three Black and Red players are in action in the early hours of Friday morning and that marks the end of the international break from a Bayer 04 perspective – all in the South American World Cup qualifiers. At 0.30 CEST, Ecuador with Werkself new signing Piero Hincapie are away to Uruguay, and Charles Aránguiz and Chile face Colombia half an hour later. From 1.30 CEST, Argentina with Exequiel Palacios have a home game in Buenos Aires against Bolivia. Good luck, lads!
Oliver Kahn, the CEO at Bayern Munich, will represent the champions of Germany on the board of the European Club Association. The 52-year-old will succeed Michael Gerlinger (Legal director at FC Bayern) in November. Kahn will join Fernando Carro, the Bayer 04 CEO, on the ECA board. The third Bundesliga representative on the board is Hans-Joachim Watzke of Borussia Dortmund.
These numbers inspire confidence of full stadiums in the Bundesliga again soon: Just 0.000006 per cent of football fans have tested positive for Covid-19 since the return of crowds at games. In 73 games with more than 900,000 tickets sold in the Bundesliga, the second division and the Supercup there were only six cases of coronavirus from contract tracing. In addition: None of the clubs are aware of any of the six people infecting others at a stadium.
“Although he plays for our rivals Leverkusen, somebody like Moussa Diaby creates great joy with his play.” These words were chosen by Max Eberl, sporting director at Borussia Mönchengladbach, in a recent interview with Sport Bild in response to the question of which Bundesliga players excite him at the moment.”
In the clash with Eberl’s Foals (4-0), the 22-year-old, who was recently called up to the France squad for the first time, scored the third goal. Diaby has scored two goals and provided one assist in the first three matchdays.
With 22 days to go until the start of the Bundesliga campaign, the Bayer 04 Women’s team have gained a fresh boost of confidence. In a friendly against Belgian top-flight side KRC Genk on Saturday afternoon, coach Roberto Pätzold’s team secured a 1–0 win. Lobke Loonen (20’) scored the winner for the Black and Reds at the Kurtekotten training centre.
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A successful fourth preseason friendly ahead of the start of the training camp: The Werkself secured a 3-0 victory over Rot-Weiss Essen at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium. The goals in what was a commanding and dominant performance by Leverkusen from the outset were scored by Ibrahim Maza (8'), Patrik Schick from the penalty spot (23’) and, in the second half, Montrell Culbreath with a header (79’). The team set off for their training camp in Blankenhain in the Weimarer Land region after the game.
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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 personal 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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You have voted – your ‘Team of the Quarter-Century’ has been decided! This historic selection, covering the period from 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2024, features honorary captains, Bundesliga champions, double winners and Champions League finalists. Edmond Tapsoba is the only player from the current Bayer 04 squad to make it into the starting XI, while his team-mate Patrik Schick is on the bench. Simon Rolfes, the current managing director sport, is also in the lie-up. A truly special team that brings together a quarter of a century of Bayer 04 history – and has left a decisive mark on the club.
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Following Patrik Schick, Mark Flekken, Ibrahim Maza and Kerim Alajbegovic earlier this week, the next World Cup participant is back on the training ground in Leverkusen: On Thursday 30 July, Malik Tillman rejoined the squad, completing his first training session under head coach Carles Martínez.
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