At the end of last week, Andrey Lunev signed a two-year deal in Leverkusen. The 29-year-old goalkeeper was at Zenit St. Petersburg for the previous four and a half years and in that time he won the Russian league title three times and the domestic cup competition once.
Lunev’s excitement at the new chapter at Bayer 04 was clear to see during his first session on the training ground at the BayArena. With a little smile, the 1.93 metre shot-stopper stepped onto the turf with eleven teammates in the morning and the Russian trained with the players left in Leverkusen a couple of hours later in the afternoon. The reason for splitting the Werkself into two groups: There were further performance tests at the BayArena on Monday.
Florian Wirtz, Kerem Demirbay, Karim Bellarabi and Co. completed numerous one-on-one moves in an enclosed space in the morning and they also tested Lunev, Lennart Grill and Maximilian Neutgens between the sticks. 'Training group 1' ended the session by cooling off in a pool next to the pitch – the players in action in the afternoon completed a similar programme.
Offensive player Samed Onur will now play in the Turkish top-flight. The 18-year-old, who spent nine years in the youth section at Bayer 04, has signed a contract with Fatih Karagümrük. The Istanbul team ended last season in eighth place. Onur says about his time under the Bayer Cross: "Many thanks to Bayer 04 for almost ten great years at Leverkusen. In spite of a number of setbacks, I always enjoyed being on the pitch. I had a great grounding here, was able to make my debut for the first team and I gained lots of friends. My journey is now taking me elsewhere but I will always look back at this time with great pleasure and pride. Thank you." We wish you lots of success in Istanbul, Samed.
Cem Türkmen also moves abroad with immediate effect. The 19-year-old central midfielder signed a contract with the French top-flight newcomers Clermont Foot 63. "I grew up at Leverkusen, learned to play football here and made my first team debut. I will never forget that exciting time," declared Türkmen who played in a Werkself shirt for 13 years. In the new season, the midfielder will play for the Austrian second division club FC Austria Lustenau on loan. All the best to you too, Cem.
Hans-Peter Lehnhoff has long been a key personality at Bayer 04. The man for all seasons ended his playing career with the Werkself after five years in 1999 and since then he has worked on organisational matters relating to the Werkself. When time permits, he also plays for the Bayer 04 Veterans team. And he is also considered to be unbeatable at football tennis.
Lehnhoff celebrated his 58th birthday on Monday. And, as usual, he was at the BayArena on his birthday following the Werkself sessions on the training ground. We wish you the best of health – for many more years.
Werkself-TV shows the highlights of the Bayer 04 women's 1-2 loss against VfL Wolfsburg on the 2nd matchday of the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga 2026/27.
In the 3-2 defeat at Bundesliga newcomers SV 07 Elversberg, the Werkself found the back of the net in the closing stages and, with a bit of luck, could still have equalised. “Today, our play wasn’t good enough, particularly when it came to the basics,” said head coach Carles Martínez. Like the boss, Ibrahim Maza also wants to learn from the match and look ahead: “Next week, people should be able to see from the very first minute that we want it more than our opponents.” The Werkself review on the Bundesliga opener in 2026/27.
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No points to start the league campaign: Bayer 04 lost 3-2 away to newly promoted SV 07 Elversberg in the first Bundesliga match of the 2026/27 campaign. Two quick-fire goals from Lukas Petkov (8’) and Cole Campbell (10’) gave the hosts an early lead, before David Mokwa scored the Saarland side’s third shortly after half-time (46’). In the closing stages, the Werkself rallied and staged a late comeback with goals from Patrik Schick (77’) and Christian Kofane (90+1’), but the Black and Reds were denied an equaliser.
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The Black and Reds kick off the new Bundesliga campaign today, Saturday 29 August (kick-off 15:30 CEST), away to newly promoted SV 07 Elversberg – and the Werkself will come up against a familiar face who is currently causing a stir at ‘Elv’. For an affordable and easy journey to the Saarland, the 1,600 travelling fans can still use the WERKSELFgo car-share platform. Today’s matchday news..
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The European jersey has been launched, the UEL opponents have been drawn – and anticipation for the European campaign is running high. To mark the occasion, an autograph session was held on Friday afternoon, 28 August, at the Fanwelt with current Werkself player Montrell Culbreath and official club legend Paulo Sergio.
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