Ahead of the first training session in the morning, the second half of the Werkself squad were happily in front of the cameras for Media Day 2022. As in the day before, today's activities again included photo, give and video productions for the club social media channels. The goalkeeping trio of captain Lukas Hradecky, Andrey Lunev and Niklas Lomb covered five media shoots from eight in the morning.
The whole squad then headed for the training ground. The Seoane team competed in different small group matches. And defender Jonathan Tah was back on the pitch at the BayArena with the ball at his feet for the first time after the summer break as he completed large parts of full training.
There was more good news away from the pitch: Amine Adli completed an individual session with fitness coach Daniel Jouvin as he worked on making his comeback.
Once again, there were lots of Black and Red fans at the training ground to follow the Werkself session from close quarters. Afterwards, the players took time out for young and old alike for photos and autographs – the most popular photo motif of the day: Captain Lukas Hradecky and head coach Gerardo Seoane.
During the lunch break, it was time for Jonathan Tah, Robert Andrich, Odilon Kossounou, Paulinho and Mitchel Bakker to produce their best smiles in front of the cameras. One or two players had fun with their teammates – the behind-the-scenes insights are already on the club's social media channels.
The Werkself had a second session in the afternoon inside the BayArena. The focus was on stability and movement drills.
At the end of the day, the final group consisting of Jeremie Frimpong, Exequiel Palacios, Piero Hincapie and Timothy Fosu-Mensah completed the different photo stops before departing for a well-deserved evening off.
The Werkself will start the last session on the pitches next to the BayArena at 10.30 CET tomorrow Wednesday 13 July. This session is also open to Black and Red supporters. The Leverkusen squad then head off to Austria the day after for a week-long training camp in Zell am See-Kaprun.
Hans-Peter Lehnhoff is 59 today. The midfielder joined the Werkself at the age of 31 in 1994. Up to the end of his playing career in 1999, he made 177 appearances for the Black and Reds scoring 17 goals and providing 30 assists.
After hanging up his boots, the former Werkself player took up a role with the support team with the Werkself and became the first team liaison manager of a professional German side. The Alsdorf-born player has spent 28 of his 59 years under the Bayer Cross, which is almost half of his life – a true stalwart. Bayer 04 wish him many happy returns.
“Year after year, this is an incredibly valuable gathering, both in terms of the content covered and the opportunity for mutual discussion,” stressed Bayer 04 goalkeeping coach David Thiel in his welcoming address at this year’s goalkeeping coaches’ meeting. This was the third time in four seasons that the event had been held at the BayArena. Organised by the German Football Association (DFB), the meeting brought together goalkeeping coaches from the Bundesliga, Bundesliga 2 and the 3rd division from the west region. For the first time this year, goalkeeping coaches from the youth performance centres (NLZ) were also present. Bayer 04 fitness coach Markus Müller provided fascinating insights into the specific fitness training carried out with the Werkself’s goalkeepers.
Show more
It was another incredibly close call in the end: The second showdown in the 2026/27 VBL Club Championship saw the #B04eSports team once again narrowly miss out on a place in the top 16 of the preliminary round – and with it, a spot in the in-person knockout stage. It was a bitter blow: Marc and Sean Landwehr again fell just short, despite being level on points with their rivals. As was the case last month, their weaker record across the twelve individual matches in the six preliminary round fixtures proved decisive.
Show more
“They stuck with us over the past few weeks when things weren’t going so well,” said captain Edmond Tapsoba, thanking the fans for their support after the 2–1 win in Cologne and dedicating the derby victory to them. Throughout the 90 minutes, the Werkself had looked unfazed and in command, inflicting the first home defeat of the season on FC Köln. It was the sixth consecutive win against the Cologne team for Bayer 04 – head coach Carles Martínez, on the other hand, was facing the team from the neighbouring city for the first time and “now really knows what this derby win means”. The Werkself derby review.
Show more
Following the 2–1 derby victory away at FC Köln on Bundesliga matchday 9, Edmond Tapsoba, Malik Tillman and Aleix Garcia spoke to Werkself TV...
Show more
Werkself TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04's 2-1 derby win at 1. FC Köln Matchday 9 of the 2026/27 Bundesliga season...
Show more
