He certainly deserves it: Patrik Schick is in the vote for the Bundesliga Player of the Month award for December. The Bayer 04 centre forward scored a remarkable eight goals in four Bundesliga matches including the 7-1 victory over SpVgg Greuther Fürth when he became the first Werkself player to score four goals in a match in Germany's top flight. You can vote for Patrik HERE.
In addition to Schick, the other nominees are Robert Lewandowski, Serge Gnabry (both Bayern Munich), Christopher Nkunku (RB Leipzig), Jesper Lindström (Eintracht Frankfurt) and Nico Schlotterbeck (SC Freiburg).
Florian Wirtz won the Player of the Month award in September.
And the Werkself striker Patrik Schick could also get his hands on the 2021 FIFA Puskas Award in the next few weeks. The 25-year-old is one of three finalists for his goal from 45 yards out in the European Championship match against Scotland on 14 June. Also nominated are the Argentinian forward Erik Lamela (Sevilla) and the Iranian striker Mehdi Taremi (FC Porto).
The trophy is awarded for the most beautiful goal in the calendar year and the winner will be announced in Zurich on 17 January. The current award winner for 2020 is the former Leverkusen player Heung-Min Son who joined Tottenham Hotspur from Bayer 04 in 2015.
The winner is chosen by an international panel consisting of a group of FIFA legends plus fans from across the world registered on FIFA.com. The votes of these two groups carry equal weight.
Patrik Schick has already secured a club award: Werkself fans voted his goal in the 2-2 draw with TSG Hoffenheim in the final home game of the year in 2021 as the Goal of the Month for December presented by like2drive. The Czech Republic striker made it 2-0 on 63 minutes with an impressive header from 12 yards out. Congratulations, Patrik. You can see that goal again here HERE.
After Amine Adli on Monday and Timothy Fosu-Mensah on Tuesday, Piero Hincapie was also on the training ground at the BayArena for the first time this year on Wednesday. The defender returned from his home country of Ecuador yesterday evening after having been forced to self-isolate due to a positive Covid-19 test.
Under the direction of fitness coach Daniel Jouvin, Hincapie completed an individual session along with Adli and Fosu-Mensah. The other Werkself players had Wednesday off after two intensive days of training. The first match of the New Year is on Saturday, 8 January (kick-off: 15.30 CET) against Union Berlin at the BayArena.
Thomas Kleine and second division Fortuna Düsseldorf have mutually agreed the termination of his contract. The former Bayer 04 player, who made 22 appearances for the Werkself as well as 95 for the Black and Red second team, had been the assistant coach at Fortuna since 2017. Kleine’s successor at Düsseldorf is Manfred Stefes. The 54-year-old last worked alongside Lucien Favre at Borussia Dortmund up to December 2020.
The Werkself congratulate Atakan Akkaynak on his 23rd birthday. The Troisdorf-born player of Turkish heritage joined Leverkusen in 2006 from TuS 07 Oberlar. He won the German U17 league title in 2016 and played in all the Black and Red youth teams up to 2018. The midfielder was then signed by the Dutch top-flight club Willem II Tilburg. After spells at Caykur Rizespor in Turkey and Türkgücü Munich, the former U19 international has been playing for Corum FK in the Turkish third division this season. Many happy returns from Bayer 04.
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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After full time in the 1-1 draw against FC Bayern Munich, the Bayer 04 fans first had to catch their breath. Firstly because of their usual loud support, and secondly because of the great drama they'd witnessed on the pitch: three disallowed goals, two red cards and a Werkself side who "again produced a very good performance against strong opponents", as head coach Kasper Hjulmand described. The Dane was particularly enthused by the performance of young Montrell Culbreath, while Patrik Schick got to enjoy his 200th appearance under the Cross. The Werkself Review unpacks the action.
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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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