The squad under head coach Gerardo Seoane is more or less reunited: Following the return of international players such as Patrik Schick and Charles Aránguiz in recent days, eight other players return to the BayArena on Wednesday morning for the preseason. Captain Lukas Hradecky, Mitchel Bakker, Joel Pohjanpalo, Adam Hlozek, Sardar Azmoun, Piero Hincapie, Edmond Tapsoba and Odilon Kossounou completed a number of medical checks over the course of the whole day. The internationals also went through the exhausting spiroergometry check.
After the morning training session, which Hradecky and Co. did not take part in, four other Werkself players had to complete parts of the performance tests: Aránguiz, Schick, Exequiel Palacios and Kerem Demirbay.
Piero Hincapie moves down from 33 to 3 – at least in relation to his shirt number. The Ecuador international has opted for one number three rather than two on his shirt for the new season. And Amine Adli has also chosen a new number: The France U21 international will now play for the Black and Reds in the number 21 shirt (previously 31).
The Women's European Championships start tonight on Wednesday evening. In the opening match at Old Trafford in Manchester, hosts England play Austria. The Leverkusen player Lara Marti starts a tournament with Switzerland on Saturday 9 July (kick-off: 18.00 CEST). The opening match in Group C is against Portugal. The other group opponents for Switzerland are the Netherlands and Sweden. All Women's Euro 2022 games will be available as a live stream on ARD and/or on ZDF as well as the streaming service DAZN.
A strong team is also needed at the BayArena off the pitch. Whether it's as a griller, a tapster, a cashier or in the kitchen, or working in service in the VIP areas: You now have a chance to apply for one of the available jobs and become part of the catering team at the Werkself home ground. Bayer Gastro offer regular shifts, fair pay and an attractive bonus system. Work clothing will also be provided. If you are at least 16 years old and able to show the ability to work in a team, resilience, commitment and flexibility then you can apply now online. Apply here.
Facilitating barrier free access to stadiums: The DFL Bundesliga travel guide is available now as an app. In the development of the mobile app, the focus was primarily on barrier free access – which also includes a simplified menu as well as an audio service for visually impaired fans. The information is also available in plain German. The app was developed with the support of Bundesliga clubs and is a joint project with Aktion Mensch. The Digital offer has been available since 2013 at bundesliga-reisefuehrer.de. The Bundesliga travel guide app is available from the App Store and Google Play.
On a wave of success: Markus Rehm of TSV Bayer 04 has been named ‘Para-athlete of the Year’ in 2021. The 33-year-old, who specialises in the long jump, sprint and relay disciplines, picked up his fifth personal award. The 19-time gold medal winner and four times Paralympics winner was voted 'Para-athlete of the Decade' in 2020.
Rehm was able to celebrate twice at the para home meeting of TSV Bayer 04: The Bundeswehr athlete broke the world record with the German 4 x 100 metres relay team. The quartet completed the race in an incredible 40.52 seconds. Congratulations from Bayer 04.
Milena Nikolic is 30 today (Wednesday). The Bosnia-Herzegovina striker started the preseason with the Bayer 04 Women’s team this week ahead of the forthcoming FLYERALARM Women's Bundesliga campaign. Nikolic, top scorer in the UEFA Women's Champions League in 2013/14, goes into her fourth season under the Bayer Cross. Congratulations and a successful new season, Milena.
Bundesliga champions Bayer 04 have also dominated the division’s Team of the Season after football fans around the world named Jonathan Tah, Alejandro Grimaldo, Jeremie Frimpong, Granit Xhaka, Florian Wirtz and Victor Boniface in the Bundesliga’s best XI for 2023/24, in cooperation with EA Sports.
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Bayer 04 Women host Bayern Munich at the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion on Saturday (kick-off: 12pm CEST) facing a familiar scenario. The visitors have the chance to be crowned champions in the Google Pixel Bundesliga, just like then they last came to Leverkusen 12 months ago. A goalless draw on that occasion saw Robert de Pauw’s side delay the title celebrations, and they want to do the same again with three games to go.
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Only a few hours after the Werkself’s 2-0 win away at Roma in the UEFA Europa League semi-final first leg, attentions turned to the next game as Bayer 04 visit Eintracht Frankfurt for Bundesliga Matchday 32 on Sunday (kick-off: 5.30pm CEST). Speaking at his press conference in Rome shortly before returning to Leverkusen on Friday morning, head coach Xabi Alonso talked about the strengths of six-placed Frankfurt and how the team will handle his touchline suspension.
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Robert Andrich’s brilliant goal in Rome came with the same right foot that he broke exactly a year ago in the same stadium. It was also only the second time Bayer 04 had won an away game in Italy, after victory at Udinese in the UEFA Cup in November 1999. Lots of subplots and a mature performance means hope of reaching the final in Dublin is high. We round up events in the Eternal City in our Werkself review.
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