The Werkself completed their final pre-match training session at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium in the morning before heading off to Freiburg. By then at the latest, it was all about full focus on the clash with SC Freiburg on Sunday 1 November.
As usual, you can follow the away game on Werks 11 Radio at bayer04.de plus on the Bayer 04 app. Niko Hartmann and Cedric Pick will get you in the matchday mood for #SCFB04 from 15.00 CET – join us!
Results have been good against Freiburg: Over the past three seasons, the team led by head coach Peter Bosz have not lost to SCF (3 wins, 3 draws). The Werkself have only conceded one goal in those six games and have kept eleven clean sheets in 18 meetings since 2011. Lukas Hradecky and Co. would be happy to keep that going on Sunday…
Fritz Walter led Germany to a surprise World Cup win as captain in 1954. ‘The Miracle of Bern’ – he played a crucial role in this story. To date, the only citizen of honour of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate was twice champion of Germany with FC Kaiserslautern in a playing career at the club that lasted over 30 years. The third division club play at the Fritz Walter Stadium. It is clear: ‘The hero of Bern’, with a pronounced community streak, still enjoys a special status in German football almost two decades after his death.
Leverkusen’s sporting managing director Rudi Völler, who was the Germany coach in 2002 when Fritz Walter passed away, dedicated the World Cup quarter-final against the USA (1-0) to the playmaker with the game played four days after his death. Völler often met Walter after the end of his career in 1959 and he says about the football legend today: “An incredibly down-to-earth and modest man. An unwilling post-war hero who the country needed him to be. As the coach of the national team at the 2002 World Cup I discovered his significance for German football when we received the sad news of his death. The success story of football in Germany is inseparable from Fritz Walter and the heroes of Bern.”
The DFB has awarded the Fritz Walter medal since 2005 in cooperation with the Fritz Walter Foundation since 2009. This honour applies to the best youth talent in Germany and is awarded to U17, U18 and U19 players. In addition to Kai Havertz, Julian Brandt and most recently Florian Wirtz, eleven other Werkself players have received this special award during their time under the Bayer Cross.
31 October 1970 was a milestone in the history of women’s football in Germany. On this day 50 years ago, women’s football was officially adopted in the constitution of the German Football Association (DFB). Bayer 04 has been part of that history since 2008 and now has five women’s and female junior teams and the club looks back at the foundation of its own women’s section. “Women’s football is a great sport and has been an important part of our club for many years. The women players are role models for countless girls and women. In my eyes, it’s incredible how late this was recognised in Germany. But to be honest: We still have a lot to do to further establish women’s football,” said Thomas Eichin, head of youth and women’s football at Bayer 04. On that anniversary, Bayer 04 look back at the foundation of the club’s women’s section – more information is available HERE.
Rüdiger Vollborn has been at the club for 40 years, he holds the record number of Bundesliga appearances for the club (401) and is the only Bayer 04 player to have won both the UEFA Cup (1988) and the DFB Pokal (1993). And the Berliner stayed with the Werkself after ending his impressive playing career as he worked as a goalkeeping coach for the following nine years. Vollborn now works under the Bayer Cross as a fan liaison officer and club archivist. Since February 2021, the personalised Black and Red lexicon takes Werkself fans under the heading of 'Rudi recounts...' on a brief trip through the history of Bayer 04 every month…
Show moreTo all Bayer 04 fans: The Fanwelt will be closed all day next Monday 30 June. This is due to preparations for the change of kit supplier from Castore to New Balance on Tuesday 1 July.
Show moreThe Norway U23 international Julie Jorde has completed the move from Bayer 04 Leverkusen to Brøndby IF. The twelve-time champions of Denmark have signed the midfielder on permanent terms after her loan move from the Bundesliga to Denmark in the winter.
Show moreIt is almost two years since Bayer 04 new signing Abdoulaye Faye first stepped foot into the BayArena as a player for the Swedish club BK Häcken in the opening match in the 2023/24 Europa League campaign. A day before his nineteenth birthday, the central defender did not play in the 4-0 win for the Werkself but it was "an incredible night" for him on 21 September 2023 as he explained in his first interview on bayer04.de. "I watched the players and saw the fans. I liked it." It was also the first European night early on in his career. He only joined the then champions of Sweden in the cold north of Europe from his home in Senegal a few weeks before that special moment. Bayer04.de profiles our new defender.
Show moreWelcome, Abdoulaye Faye. The 20-year-old Senegalese central defender joins Leverkusen from top-flight Swedish club BK Häcken. In his first interview he talks about his move to Bayer 04 and his targets with the Werkself.
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