
"Bayern did dominate but we had the better chances," was the assessment by Fernando Carro, the Bayer 04 CEO, of the 1-1 draw in Munich. (Here is a link to Carro's statements on BILD TV). Jeremie Frimpong again played a big part in those promising opportunities. The Werkself's Dutch full-back once again ceaselessly ran up and down the line on his flank, was relentless in his challenges and marked FC Bayern's world-class winger Kingsley Coman out of the game as best he could.
The 21-year-old was justifiably included in the kicker Team of the Matchday. The football journal awarded a high mark of 2 for Frimpong's performance. The Rheinische Post awarded the same mark to Jonathan Tah and Charles Aránguiz. The Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger gave Edmond Tapsoba a 2.5.
Once a striker for the Werkself, Stefan Kießling is now involved with coordination of the senior squad at the Werkself. The Bayer 04 honorary captain has experienced a lot before and after the end of his playing career in the summer of 2018. The 38-year-old talks about that time and current issues involving the Bundesliga in today's edition of 'kicker meets DAZN'. The podcast is available now at kicker.de, on the kicker app as well as all usual podcast platforms.
Today (Monday), Bayer 04 congratulate Patrick Schnarwiler on his 49th birthday. The Werkself assistant coach moved under the Bayer Cross last summer from Switzerland together with head coach Gerardo Seoane. The duo won two league titles and the domestic cup competition with Young Boys Bern in their home country. Schnarwiler joined Young boys in 2019 from Grasshoppers where he was assistant coach with the first team and later head coach of the U21s. His post in Leverkusen is the first outside Switzerland – and it has proved to be very successful to date. Happy birthday, Patrik.

And former Werkself player Kurt Eigl celebrates his 68th birthday today. The Hockenheim-born player signed for Leverkusen after our Bundesliga promotion season in 1979/80. Before that he played for SV Darmstadt 98 and was at Hamburg SV for four years. The midfielder won the DFB Cup (1976) as well as the European Cup Winners Cup (1977) with the Hamburg. Many happy returns, Kurt.

Werkself TV shows the highlights of the 4-0 victory in the friendly match against KRC Genk...
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In their third friendly of this pre-season, Bayer 04 played on home soil for the first time – and won there too! The Werkself claimed a comfortable 4-0 victory against Belgian top-flight side KRC Genk at the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion. Jeanuel Belocian (9’) and Nathan Tella (42’) gave a dominant Leverkusen a 2-0 lead at the break, which Afonso Moreira (51’) and Christian Kofane (53’) doubled after the break. Among the many second-half substitutions was Patrik Schick, who made his first friendly appearance of the summer.
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The Werkself continue their 2026/27 pre-season preparations with their third friendly against Belgian top-flight side KRC Genk at the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion on Wednesday 29 July (kick-off 15:00 CEST). Werkself-TV is broadcasting the match live and in full in a stream from 14:50 CEST...

After the children from the Bayer 04 Football Academy grilled Janis Blaswich and Simeon Rapsch last week, another group of 20 young Werkself fans gathered at the BayArena press conference room on Tuesday afternoon, 28 July . This time, the kids directed their questions at Tim Oermann and Jonah Berghoff. Defender Oermann raved about his school days, whilst talented midfielder Berghoff revealed to the young footballers, amongst other things, who his favourite player is – and he is also at Bayer 04. To round things off, the pair naturally obliged with all requests for autographs and selfies.
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Bayer 04 are back on the pitch. Following the first training sessions, the Werkself play the first pre-season friendly on Saturday, July 18. The match against Oberliga club Sportfreunde Baumberg kicks off at 15:30 CEST in Monheim am Rhein. Fans unable to attend the match can watch head coach Carles Martínez’s first game in charge for free via a livestream at bayer04.de and on the Bayer 04 app, as well as on Werkself.tv (exclusively for members). Just log on and watch the games live. All the other Werkself preseason friendlies leading up to the 2026/27 season will also be streamed live for free.
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