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.
With 22 days to go until the start of the Bundesliga campaign, the Bayer 04 Women’s team have gained a fresh boost of confidence. In a friendly against Belgian top-flight side KRC Genk on Saturday afternoon, coach Roberto Pätzold’s team secured a 1–0 win. Lobke Loonen (20’) scored the winner for the Black and Reds at the Kurtekotten training centre.
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A successful fourth preseason friendly ahead of the start of the training camp: The Werkself secured a 3-0 victory over Rot-Weiss Essen at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium. The goals in what was a commanding and dominant performance by Leverkusen from the outset were scored by Ibrahim Maza (8'), Patrik Schick from the penalty spot (23’) and, in the second half, Montrell Culbreath with a header (79’). The team set off for their training camp in Blankenhain in the Weimarer Land region after the game.
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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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You have voted – your ‘Team of the Quarter-Century’ has been decided! This historic selection, covering the period from 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2024, features honorary captains, Bundesliga champions, double winners and Champions League finalists. Edmond Tapsoba is the only player from the current Bayer 04 squad to make it into the starting XI, while his team-mate Patrik Schick is on the bench. Simon Rolfes, the current managing director sport, is also in the lie-up. A truly special team that brings together a quarter of a century of Bayer 04 history – and has left a decisive mark on the club.
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Following Patrik Schick, Mark Flekken, Ibrahim Maza and Kerim Alajbegovic earlier this week, the next World Cup participant is back on the training ground in Leverkusen: On Thursday 30 July, Malik Tillman rejoined the squad, completing his first training session under head coach Carles Martínez.
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