While most of the squad completed a regeneration session, only the recovering players including Lars Bender trained at the BayArena. One of those can be very happy: Exequiel Palacios made his first start in the Bundesliga since matchday six last Saturday in the home game against Schalke 04 (2-1). The 22-year-old Argentinian played the full 90 minutes and made a decisive contribution to picking up three points on the first match under head coach Hannes Wolf.
Impressive: For 'Pala' it was the sixth win in his seventh Bundesliga match – plus one draw. Only two other players in the history of the Bundesliga of had more appearances since their debut without suffering a defeat: Former Bayer 04 player Bent Skammelsrud (01 to 04/1998) and Reto Ziegler of Hamburg SV. If the Werkself get a result against TSG Hoffenheim on Monday (kick-off: 20.30 CEST) and Palacios plays then he will join the leading duo.
Do a good turn and win: For several months, the Bayer 04 fan liaison team have been calling all Werkself fans to donate. Numerous projects have been helped financially during the coronavirus pandemic thanks to the campaign ‘Bayer 04-Fans helfen’ campaign. In April funds go to the Wildpark Reuschenberg Leverkusen.
The donation of at least five euros can easily be transferred by the end of the month to the support group for the Wildpark Reuschenberg. Either via PayPal or bank transfer. Account details:
Name: VR Bank eG Bergisch Gladbach-Leverkusen
IBAN: DE03 3706 2600 2801 0000 13
Reference: Spende Bayer 04-Fans helfen
Bayer 04 will raffle great Black and Red prizes amongst all people making donations on every Thursday in April. A Werkself shirt will be in the draw every week. To take part in the draw supporters just have to send proof of donation (e.g. screenshot) via email to fanbetreuung@bayer04.de. The winners will be announced on Thursdays on the Facebook page Bayer 04-Faninfos. Under #gemeinsamfürLEV let us support the animals and their keepers as best as possible. Further information on the Wildpark Reuschenberg is available HERE.
Hertha Berlin and goalkeeping coach Zsolt Petry parted company a few days ago. As his successor, Gábor Király has been mentioned. However, the former Werkself player (01/2009 to 06/2009) has rejected the offer due to other commitments. The 45-year-old has established projects in his home country of Hungary as discussed a few weeks ago in a podcast
Karim Bellarabi, one of the longest serving Werkself players, celebrates his 31st birthday on Thursday. The Berliner join Leverkusen from Eintracht Braunschweig in the 2011/12 season. In 253 appearances to date, the versatile winger has scored an impressive 53 goals and provided 61 assists in a Bayer 04 shirt.
In the 2-1 home win for the Werkself against Schalke 04 last weekend, He was able to make his first start in the Bundesliga since matchday three after being sidelined by injury (including a metacarpal fracture and a thigh injury).
Werkself TV shows the highlights of the 4-0 victory in the friendly match against KRC Genk...
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In their third friendly of this pre-season, Bayer 04 played on home soil for the first time – and won there too! The Werkself claimed a comfortable 4-0 victory against Belgian top-flight side KRC Genk at the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion. Jeanuel Belocian (9’) and Nathan Tella (42’) gave a dominant Leverkusen a 2-0 lead at the break, which Afonso Moreira (51’) and Christian Kofane (53’) doubled after the break. Among the many second-half substitutions was Patrik Schick, who made his first friendly appearance of the summer.
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The Werkself continue their 2026/27 pre-season preparations with their third friendly against Belgian top-flight side KRC Genk at the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion on Wednesday 29 July (kick-off 15:00 CEST). Werkself-TV is broadcasting the match live and in full in a stream from 14:50 CEST...
After the children from the Bayer 04 Football Academy grilled Janis Blaswich and Simeon Rapsch last week, another group of 20 young Werkself fans gathered at the BayArena press conference room on Tuesday afternoon, 28 July . This time, the kids directed their questions at Tim Oermann and Jonah Berghoff. Defender Oermann raved about his school days, whilst talented midfielder Berghoff revealed to the young footballers, amongst other things, who his favourite player is – and he is also at Bayer 04. To round things off, the pair naturally obliged with all requests for autographs and selfies.
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Bayer 04 are back on the pitch. Following the first training sessions, the Werkself play the first pre-season friendly on Saturday, July 18. The match against Oberliga club Sportfreunde Baumberg kicks off at 15:30 CEST in Monheim am Rhein. Fans unable to attend the match can watch head coach Carles Martínez’s first game in charge for free via a livestream at bayer04.de and on the Bayer 04 app, as well as on Werkself.tv (exclusively for members). Just log on and watch the games live. All the other Werkself preseason friendlies leading up to the 2026/27 season will also be streamed live for free.
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