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.
In the previous game against RB Leipzig in December last year, the Werkself turned came from behind to win 3-1 and further improved Leverkusen's already strong record against the Red Bulls. Montrell Culbreath stood out with his first goal on his debut for the Black and Reds. While the 18-year-old would certainly like to score a second goal against Leipzig on Saturday night, the attack-minded visitors come to the BayArena in confident mood after five Bundesliga victories in a row. The Nordkurve12 supporters group knows the Werkself will therefore once again be reliant on the vociferous support of the fans, and has once again called for the ‘Finally Red’ campaign in the run-in. Today’s matchday news.
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Video games manufacturer Electronic Arts (EA), together with the German Football League (DFL), announced the top male and female selections for the 2025/26 Bundesliga season this week. Bayer 04 striker Vanessa Fudalla is in the starting eleven of the women's "Team of the Season". Alejandro Grimaldo and Aleix Garcia have been selected as bench players in the men's team.
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This special event showed once again how strong Bayer 04 are as a team: As part of ‘BarmeniaGothaer gives joy’, the Werkself players Edmond Tapsoba, Ibrahim Maza and Christian Kofane supported the sale of individually designed T-shirts for a good cause at the Fanwelt on Thursday. Several hundred fans came to take part in the charity campaign. Leverkusen's main sponsor BarmeniaGothaer donated the proceeds to the Fondation Edmond Tapsoba, which helps people in Tapsoba's home country of Burkina Faso in their challenging everyday lives.
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With three games to play before the end of the season, the Bayer 04 Women can break one record and equal another at SGS Essen. After three wins on the bounce, coach Roberto Pätzold's team are aiming to maintain the chance of third place in Sunday’s away game (14:00 CEST, Stadion an der Hafenstraße).
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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 personalised 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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