
With Rudi on One: The live report from SAT 1 of the opening Bundesliga match, with Rudi Völler acting as a pundit, achieved top spot in TV viewing figures on Friday. More than 10 million viewers watched the game between Eintracht Frankfurt and Bayer Munich (1-6). That is a market share of 32.7% amongst 14- to 49-year-olds:
The long-standing Leverkusen sporting director and managing director Rudi Völler was first in action pitchside as a pundit and finally the 62-year-old analysed the opening victory for FC Bayern on the talk show ran Late Night. Völler handed over the baton as sporting managing director of the Werkself to Simon Rolfes this summer and since then the 1990 World Cup winner has been a member of the Bayer 04 shareholders committee.




Hard work indeed: The Bayer 04 Women’s squad today started a five-day training camp ahead of the 22/23 season. The team under the new Women's head coach Robert de Pauw made the short journey to the renowned Sportzentrum Kaiserau by coach.
In ideal conditions and hot temperatures, Anna Klink & Co. will have training sessions each day and a friendly against de Pauw’s former club FC Twente Enschede at the end of the training camp on Friday 12 August.
Meanwhile, the Bayer 04 players Lisanne Gräwe and Clara Fröhlich are away with the Germany U20 team. The two Leverkusen players start the World Cup in Costa Rica on Wednesday 10 August. In the first match, Germany in Group B play Colombia (19.0 CEST). That is followed on Saturday 13 August by the game against New Zealand (19.00 CEST). The final group match is next Wednesday, 17 August (01.00 CEST) when Mexico are the opposition.
An historic date: Exactly 30 years ago today, Heike Henkel won an Olympic gold in the high jump in Barcelona. At the end of that year she was also Germany's sports personality of the year and named the world athlete of the year. TSV Bayer 04 talked to Heiko about the medal and her career. HERE is the interview (in German).
Several former and current Bayer 04 players celebrate their birthdays today. Two women players are included. Amira Arfaoui, at Leverkusen since last year, is now 23 years old. The youngest celebrating their birthday is Sofi Zdebel. The U19 international is 18 today. Finally of adult age.
The former Werkself keeper Uwe Greiner is 63 today. The Stuttgart-born player made 74 appearances for the Black and Reds over two years. Another former Leverkusen player celebrating their birthday today is Josip Drmic. He is 30 today. The Swiss forward joined the Werkself in 2014/2015 but left the Black and Reds a year later to join Borussia Mönchengladbach.
Bayer 04 today also remember Peter Röger, who would have been 100 years old today (Monday). Bayer 04 last week dedicated an article to Leverkusen legend in the series 'Rudi recounts'. Click HERE for the article.

Werkself-TV shows the highlights of the Bayer 04 women's 1-2 loss against VfL Wolfsburg on the 2nd matchday of the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga 2026/27.
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Bayer 04’s eight opponents in the group stage of the 2026/27 UEFA Europa League have been confirmed. At the draw on Friday 28 August held at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco, the Werkself were drawn against two opponents from each of the four pots. There are a total of four home and four away matches. Read on for details of opponents and fixture dates.
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In the 3-2 defeat at Bundesliga newcomers SV 07 Elversberg, the Werkself found the back of the net in the closing stages and, with a bit of luck, could still have equalised. “Today, our play wasn’t good enough, particularly when it came to the basics,” said head coach Carles Martínez. Like the boss, Ibrahim Maza also wants to learn from the match and look ahead: “Next week, people should be able to see from the very first minute that we want it more than our opponents.” The Werkself review on the Bundesliga opener in 2026/27.
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Werkself TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04's 2-3 loss at SV 07 Elversberg on Matchday 1 of the 2026/27 Bundesliga season...
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No points to start the league campaign: Bayer 04 lost 3-2 away to newly promoted SV 07 Elversberg in the first Bundesliga match of the 2026/27 campaign. Two quick-fire goals from Lukas Petkov (8’) and Cole Campbell (10’) gave the hosts an early lead, before David Mokwa scored the Saarland side’s third shortly after half-time (46’). In the closing stages, the Werkself rallied and staged a late comeback with goals from Patrik Schick (77’) and Christian Kofane (90+1’), but the Black and Reds were denied an equaliser.
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