After a two-year enforced break due to the coronavirus pandemic, Bayer 04 have now finally been able to continue the traditional partnership with the Leverkusen Sports Association in the established way: As this year's patron of the Birkenberg Soccer School, Werkself player Florian Wirtz did not fail to provide attention to the girls and boys taking part at the end of the summer holidays. In a relaxed round of questions at the SC Leverkusen ground, the 19-year-old Germany international gave up lots of time for the children on Wednesday afternoon and he was rewarded with enthusiasm and beaming faces. A total of 450 children have taken part in football courses over the past six weeks.
After the Werkself had a day off on Monday, the players under head coach Gerardo Seoane were fully focused on preparing for the top match in Dortmund the next day. There was a tough shift in the glaring Leverkusen sunshine: In addition to sessions on the speed caught inside the BayArena there were press-ups on the pitch, intense passing drills, six vs six matches in restricted space and more.
The Werkself completed a slightly changed but equally intense session in front of a large number of fans today and they certainly worked up a sweat in tropical temperatures of 34 degrees. While Lukas Hradecky, Andrey Lunev and Niklas Lomb worked separately at the start of the 90-minute plus session, the Black and Red goalkeeping trio joined their teammates for the final practice game. Head coach Seoane again and again interrupted the match in training and gave instructions or had discussions with players and his fellow coaches.
Amine Adli worked one-on-one with fitness coach Markus Müller, and Timothy Fosu-Mensah also trained on his own. The two Werkself players completed a range of sprints and running drills.
The Werkself Women's team are also hard at work with a large number of sessions this week. On Monday, head coach Robert de Pauw held the first training session of the week with many others following in the next few days. A trio consisting of Anna Klink, Kristin Kögel and Elisa Senß headed off to Frankfurt on Tuesday for the DFB Media Day. Their teammates focused on defensive work in the training session in Leverkusen.
On Saturday 6 August (kick-off: 14.00 CEST) the Bayer 04 Women's team play top Dutch club PSV Eindhoven in a friendly before the players led by de Pauw travel on two days later to a five-day training camp in Kaiserau by Kamen in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Congratulations, Anne. The youth goalkeeper at Bayer 04 has won the award for the best save of the month for July. In the friendly against the Mexican first division Club América Femenil (0-1), which the Werkself Women played last month on the #Bayer04MexicoTour, the 17-year-old keeper kept her team on terms with a sensational save. You can watch her fine save again HERE.
Happy birthday, Achim Feifel. The Baden-Württemberg-born coach today celebrates his 58th birthday. The graduate sports teacher focused on coaching women's teams early on. After coaching top clubs in international women's football such as Hamburg SV, the Russian club FC Rossiyanka and FFC Turbine Potsdam, Feifel took over the posts of coach with the Bayer 04 Women's team in 2019. Since this year he has worked for the Werkself as the sporting director of women's football.
Bayer 04 today remember Werner Röhrig who would have been 88 years old today (Wednesday). The former Werkself captain, who was under the Bayer Cross for many years, was born in Leverkusen and died in his home town at the age of 76. During his time as a professional football player, Röhrig only played for one club: Bayer 04. After the former midfielder ended his playing career, he spent several years on the board of the football department as well as the senior committee of TSV Bayer 04. Röhrig also helped build an archive on large parts of the history of Bayer 04, which he also helped to write for nine years (1955-1964) – a true Leverkusener who will never be forgotten.
“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.
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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.
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Several Werkself players are set to represent their national teams during the final international break of 2026. Here’s an overview of who has been called up and the matches they will face in November. This article will be updated regularly.
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“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.
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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...
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