Head coach Gerardo Seoane welcomed 23 players to the training ground on Wednesday morning. After the players in the starting line-up went through a recovery session yesterday, everybody was on the training ground this morning. And there was particularly good news: Captain Lukas Hradecky, who was up to now in self-isolation, was able to rejoin his teammates in training again for the first time today.
The DFL vote for EA SPORTS Player of the Month for January is open today – Werkself player Moussa Diaby is included with his hat-trick in the match against FC Augsburg (5-1) standing out. In addition to the France international, also up for the vote are Robert Lewandowski, Thomas Müller (both FC Bayern), Patrick Wimmer (Arminia Bielefeld), Erling Haaland (Borussia Dortmund) and Josko Gvardiol (RB Leipzig).
The #BundesligaPOTM is decided by 40% votes from fans, 30% from clubs and 30% from pundits. You can vote for Moussa HERE.
Gerardo Seoane was not only able to welcome his players to the training ground today but also a birthday boy: His assistant coach Alberto Encinas today celebrates his 40th birthday. The Spanish coach joined Leverkusen from Barcelona at the start of the season where he had been assistant coach for the U19 team since 2017 as well as the Barca second team coach.
Andreas Neuendorf also celebrated his birthday today as he turned 47. 'Zecke' played for the Werkself from 1994 to 1997 as well as 2000 to 2001 before the Berlin-born player returned to his hometown club Hertha Berlin. Neuendorf was the assistant to Pal Dardai at Hertha up to matchday 13.
Many happy returns also to Angelos Charisteas, who is 42 today. The Greek player was signed on loan from FC Nürnberg in 2009. He made 16 appearances scoring two goals and in that year was with the Black and Reds in the DFB Cup final.
Bayer 04 also remember Rinus Michels today. The Dutchman was the Werkself head coach from July 1988 to April 1989 for a total of 31 games. Michels passed away in 2005 and he would have been 94 today.
Attacking midfielder Paulina Bartz is leaving Bayer 04 Leverkusen for good on a permanent move to Hamburger SV in the Google Pixel Women’s Bundesliga. The 21-year-old, who was on loan to the newly promoted side in the winter, originally had a contract to 2027.
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The Bayer 04 Football School opened in 2007 – now this successful programme is getting a new name and a new logo: with immediate effect, the Bayer 04 Football School powered by BarmeniaGothaer is becoming the Bayer 04 Football Academy powered by BarmeniaGothaer.
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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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The sustainable use of the BayArena seats removed as part of the current stadium upgrade has taken on a new dimension: Following on from numerous Bayer 04 fans receiving their ‘Undefeated Champions seats’ and various clubs and community organisations from Leverkusen and the wider region having collected the dismantled seats, Blau-Gelbe Kreuz e.V. also made their way to the BayArena recently. The German-Ukrainian aid organisation took away around 2,100 seats; in Ukraine, these will be used to upgrade the sports infrastructure of two clubs.
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