In mild temperatures and occasional sunshine, Charles Aránguiz and his teammates stepped onto the pitch at the BayArena. That included Lukas Hradecky, Joel Pohjanpalo and Jonathan Tah. The Finland duo and the Germany international returned from international duty at the start of the week. Pohjanpalo and Tah did recovery work on Tuesday while goalkeeper Hradecky completed the 'normal' training session with his colleagues.
Peter Bosz and his coaching staff are intensively preparing the Werkself this week for the first round of the DFB Cup. The opponents on Sunday, 13 September (kick-off: 15.30 CET) are North Regional League side Eintracht Norderstedt. The knockout tie will be played in front of 300 spectators at the BayArena.
It will happen on Saturday, 12 September: Bayer 04 are broadcasting "90+4 – Digital kick-off to the 2020/21 season” live from 15.30 CET on YouTube and bayer04.de . We will announce content of the broadcast over the course of the week.
This will include Sven Bender presenting his brother Lars Bender with the trophy for the best goal of last season – and also giving a small speech. You can also win signed Karim Bellarabi, Kerem Demirbay and Nadiem Amiri shirts. So, join in and watch the broadcast on Saturday!
Friedhelm Renno first came to Leverkusen in 1963 when the goalkeeper joined from Arminia Bielefeld. He then played for the Werkself between the sticks for six years. In his penultimate season in Black and Red, Renno celebrated winning the Regional League West with his teammates. Bayer 04 was his last club as a professional player. But the club remained his sporting home after the end of his career: In September 1970, Renno was head coach at the Werkself for nine months. Now he is a representative on the Bayer 04 Council of Elders – and he is 80 today (Tuesday). We wish Friedhelm many happy returns!
In addition to Renno, another former Bayer 04 player celebrates his birthday on 8 September. Herbert Waas, who played for Leverkusen from 1982 to January 1990 (240 Bundesliga appearances/83 goals) and the first Germany international from Leverkusen, is 57. Bayer 04 also wish Herbert many happy returns!
Ahead of Bayer 04's Europa League match away to OFI Crete in Greece, defender Jarell Quansah spoke to Werkself-TV...
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It couldn't have been any tighter! Despite winning four of six games in the online preliminary round in Showdown 1 of the VBL Club Championship 2026/27, Leverkusen eSports duo Marc and Sean Landwehr didn't make it through to the offline knockout round. Level on points (12) with seven other teams, Leverkusen were the only team with this points tally not to progress as they had the worst single-game record compared to their rivals.
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He's one of the leading figures of Leverkusen and the German economy: Werner Wenning rose from an apprentice at Bayer 04 to CEO of the global company. A childhood Werkself fan, he has held a position of responsibility at the club for many years as chairman of the shareholder committee of Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH. Today the Leverkusen native celebrates his 80th birthday. The entire Bayer 04 family offers its warmest wishes!
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OFI Crete have begun the UEFA Europa League league phase with one win and one defeat. The Greek Cup winners are still unbeaten at home this season, so a tricky assignment awaits the Werkself at the Pankritio on Thursday 22 October (kick-off 18:45 CEST). The lowdown on our next opponents.
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen have drafted in Jonas Hofmann to their UEFA Europa League squad. The 34-year-old attacking midfielder will travel with the Werkself to Greece tomorrow, Wednesday 21 October, ahead of the match at OFI Crete the following day. Hofmann replaces injured teammate Martin Terrier in the squad.
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