
One Werkself player can actually benefit from the suspension of matches due to the coronavirus pandemic: Kevin Volland. What the 27-year-old most needed after his injury blow was time. And he got it. It’s almost two months since Volland suffered an ankle injury in a challenge in the Europa League game against FC Porto, he then underwent an immediate operation and is now working on his recovery. After weeks of rehab in the Werkstatt at the BayArena, Volland is now back on the training ground and working with the ball again. The striker had almost written off the current season but now a comeback could be on the agenda if the season starts again.
He came into the world in 1994 – today, Mitchell Weiser celebrates his 26th birthday. Bayer 04 wish him a very happy and, above all, healthy birthday. In the morning, ‘Mitch’ received congratulations from his teammates – obviously with the prescribed social distancing – at the training session at the BayArena. The evening will provide the chance for a longer celebration as the Werkself have tomorrow off.
The squad under Peter Bosz returned to training at the club on 1 April in small groups – of course, following all regulations and adhering to the distancing rule. Karl-Heinrich Dittmar, medical director at Bayer 04, explains how it works – on bayer04.de.



The ranks of the honorary captains were extended by the addition of Rüdiger Vollborn and Stefan Kießling in the summer of 2019. bayer04.de is using the current period without games to say a big thank you to these Werkself legends. The six-part series comes to an end this Friday with a profile of Vollborn.
Former Bayer 04 player Dominik Kohr made his Bundesliga debut eight years ago to the day – and that was at Leverkusen. The Bayer 04 homegrown player made his first appearance at the age of 18 under coach Sascha Lewandowski in the 1-0 away win at TSG Hoffenheim when he replaced André Schürrle on 89 minutes – the first Bundesliga match of a total of 162 to date (54 for Bayer 04, 91 for FC Augsburg, 17 for Eintracht Frankfurt). Kohr left the Werkself in the summer to join Eintracht Frankfurt and he has made 29 appearances.


In their third friendly of this pre-season, Bayer 04 played on home soil for the first time – and won there too! The Werkself claimed a comfortable 4-0 victory against Belgian top-flight side KRC Genk at the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion. Jeanuel Belocian (9’) and Nathan Tella (42’) gave a dominant Leverkusen a 2-0 lead at the break, which Afonso Moreira (51’) and Christian Kofane (53’) doubled after the break. Among the many second-half substitutions was Patrik Schick, who made his first friendly appearance of the summer.
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The Werkself are finally back. On Saturday 8 August, Bayer 04 kick off the 2026/27 campaign with their opening match. But there’s far more than just a double-header in store for Werkself supporters. True to the motto ‘One day. Two teams. One club’, the BayArena and the Ulrich Haberland Stadium will be transformed into a world of excitement.
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The Werkself continue their 2026/27 pre-season preparations with their third friendly against Belgian top-flight side KRC Genk at the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion on Wednesday 29 July (kick-off 15:00 CEST). Werkself-TV is broadcasting the match live and in full in a stream from 14:50 CEST...

After the children from the Bayer 04 Football Academy grilled Janis Blaswich and Simeon Rapsch last week, another group of 20 young Werkself fans gathered at the BayArena press conference room on Tuesday afternoon, 28 July . This time, the kids directed their questions at Tim Oermann and Jonah Berghoff. Defender Oermann raved about his school days, whilst talented midfielder Berghoff revealed to the young footballers, amongst other things, who his favourite player is – and he is also at Bayer 04. To round things off, the pair naturally obliged with all requests for autographs and selfies.
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Bayer 04 are back on the pitch. Following the first training sessions, the Werkself play the first pre-season friendly on Saturday, July 18. The match against Oberliga club Sportfreunde Baumberg kicks off at 15:30 CEST in Monheim am Rhein. Fans unable to attend the match can watch head coach Carles Martínez’s first game in charge for free via a livestream at bayer04.de and on the Bayer 04 app, as well as on Werkself.tv (exclusively for members). Just log on and watch the games live. All the other Werkself preseason friendlies leading up to the 2026/27 season will also be streamed live for free.
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