"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.
Strengthening the Bayer 04 Leverkusen youth teams: Konstantinos Kotsifakis will join the Werkself from Bundesliga 2 club Hertha Berlin for the 2026/27 season, where he will be a permanent member of the Leverkusen U19 coaching set-up. The German-Greek will also take on an operational role in coaching the Bayer 04 Future Team. The 29-year-old was most recently head coach of the U17s at Hertha Berlin.
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Another award for the Bayer 04 head groundsman and staff: After coming top in the 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2024/25 seasons, the BayArena pitch came second in the Bundesliga Pitch of the Year ranking for the 2025/26 season. VfL Wolfsburg secured the top spot this year, with TSG Hoffenheim in third place.
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Opening opponents, derby weekends, the opponents in the season finale: This information and more will be available to Bayer 04 fans on Thursday, 2 July, when the 2026/27 Bundesliga fixture list is published.
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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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