
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.

Four Bayer 04 players are in action at the 35th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations being played in Morocco from 21 December to 18 January 2026: Eliesse Ben Seghir for the hosts, Edmond Tapsoba with Burkina Faso, Ibrahim Maza for Algeria and Christian Kofane with Cameroon. Updates on the AFCON matches involving Werkself players...
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Sustainability once again had many faces at Bayer 04 in 2025: In community activity, the club supported countless regional campaigns, including the Leverkusener Tafel, the Frauenennotruf Leverkusen e.V. and the homeless aid organisation "Kältegang". But the Black and Reds have also been involved in good causes around the world - including the Young Coaches training programmes in Uganda and Ecuador plus the Genuine World Cup in the USA, where the Inclusion Werkself competed. Bayer 04 was also fully committed to the environment and underwent external and independently certification in accordance with the European environmental management standard EMAS, for example, to analyse and optimise the club’s environmental efforts. Looking back at sustainability in 2025.
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Two Saturdays, one Friday and one Sunday: The dates for the Bayer 04 Women's team games on matchdays 16 to 19 have been finalised. Three of the four matches scheduled by the German Football Association (DFB) on Tuesday will be played at home at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium.
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Bayer 04 currently have a number of promising young talents on loan to various clubs in Europe with the aim of gaining match practice and furthering their individual development. Francis Onyeka and Farid Alfa-Ruprecht, for example, play for VfL Bochum 1848, while Artem Stepanov is a striker with 1. FC Nürnberg, coached by World Cup winner Miroslav Klose. Tim Oermann is a defender in the Austrian Bundesliga at top club SK Sturm Graz and Abdoulaye Faye is playing in France for FC Lorient, promoted to Ligue 1 this season. Bayer04.de reviews the first six months for the Leverkusen players out on loan.
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