
The new Werkself head coach turned up for work punctually on 1 July. While the players only have to appear at the BayArena on Monday for their performance tests, Gerardo Seoane has been in Leverkusen since Thursday. In numerous discussions with sporting director Simon Rolfes and his coaching staff, the pre-season will be planned and work done on the squad for next season. In addition, the 42-year-old will get to know the rest of the staff supporting the Werkself and will hold important discussions over the coming weeks.

One player who Gerardo Seoane will not meet at the start of training is Leon Bailey. The 23-year-old is set to play for Jamaica in the Gold Cup, the North and Central American equivalent of the European Championship. The first match is on Tuesday, 13 July with the kick-off in Orlando (USA) at 00.30 CEST. The opening opponents for Bailey and Co. are Suriname, and Costa Rica are also in Group C. The fourth opponent will be resolved this weekend in two play-off rounds.
The Werkself winger has made eight appearances for Jamaica so far including at the 2019 Gold Cup where the ‘Reggae Boyz’ were knocked out by the USA at the semi-final stage.
Euro 2020 and the Copa America are entering their final stages. Three Leverkusen players are in action with their national teams. Centre-forward Patrik Schick is set to play in the Euro quarter-finals for the Czech Republic against Denmark on Saturday night, 3 July. The kick-off in Azerbaijan's capital Baku is at 18.00 CEST. Schick has been involved in all five goals scored in the tournament by the 'Reprezentace'. The 25-year-old has scored four goals himself and provided one assist.
In South America, the Werkself skipper Charles Aránguiz and Exequiel Palacios are involved in the first knockout clashes in this year's Copa America at the quarter-final stage. In the night from Friday to Saturday, Chile with the impressive Aránguiz face Brazil (kick-off: 02.00 CEST) and 25 hours later Palacios and Argentina take on Ecuador. Good luck to both of you.
Kerem Demirbay? Leon Köhl? Nadiem Amiri? Chiara Bücher? Or even Lars Bender? As usual, you again have the opportunity this year to vote for your Goal of the Season presented by like2drive. To enter, you have until Sunday, 4 July to name your favourite goal from last season under our Facebook post. You can take your time to look at all the goals once again. Click HERE for the video.
The Leverkusen Fan Project has served as a meeting place for all Leverkusen residents and Werkself fans since its foundation in 1996. This week the Fan Project celebrates its 25th birthday. On this occasion we thank everybody involved for the untiring and so valuable social contribution to our club and our city. Here's to many more years side-by-side.

World Cup winner Toni Kroos has announced his retirement from the German national team. The Real Madrid midfielder, who played on loan for the Werkself from January 2009 to June 2010, made the announcement on Friday. The 31-year-old made 106 appearances for Germany. At Leverkusen, Kroos played 48 games and he made his international debut in March 2010 during his time under the Bayer Cross.

Werkself-TV shows the highlights of the Bayer 04 women's 1-2 loss at VfL Wolfsburg on the 20th matchday of the Google Pixel Frauen-Bundesliga 2025/26.
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The Bundesliga home game against VfL Wolfsburg in the first half of the season was one of those classic ‘days to forget’ for Bayer 04 Women. It started with goalkeeper Charlotte Voll being shown a red card in the first minute of the game, and following a further sending-off, coach Roberto Pätzold's 9-women side ended up losing 5-1 to last season's runners-up. At 18.30 CET on Sunday, they'll have the chance to exact revenge at the AOK Stadium - and pick up valuable points in the race for third place.
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Werkself TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04's 1-1 draw against FC Bayern Munich on Matchday 26 of the 2025/26 Bundesliga season...
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Bayer 04 were held to a 1-1 draw at home by Bayern Munich in an eventful Matchday 26 fixture in the Bundesliga. Aleix Garcia had given the Werkself the lead inside six minutes, but Bayern levelled in the second half through Luis Diaz, despite Nicolas Jackson having been send off before the break. Diaz was then dismissed himself as Leverkusen pushed for a winner, which failed to materialise as Jonas Hofmann saw a late goal ruled out.
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Bayern Munich come to the BayArena this Saturday with an 11-point lead in the Bundesliga as they look to take a step closer to the title. As imperious as they may seem, a weakness has emerged of late that the Werkself proved they can exploit in Wednesday’s 1-1 draw with Arsenal in the Champions League. Leverkusen are also looking to make it four Bundesliga home games unbeaten against the Bavarians. Here’s all you need to know ahead of the 15:30 CET kick-off in our matchday news.
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