The holidays are over! The Werkself players came to the BayArena on Friday evening to undergo coronavirus tests – everything really gets going on Sunday. All the players first have to undergo the annual performance checks at the beginning of the season. The players will be kept busy for over four hours as they go through twelve different tests covering the areas of medicine, prevention and fitness. The first full training session will be on Monday – albeit without international players who are away with their national teams.
The Thursday edition of the Kicker sports journal included the first part of its half-yearly ranking of German football with four Werkself players in the positions of goalkeeper and central defender. Lukas Hradecky was fifth in the list of Bundesliga goalkeepers. "The Leverkusen player had a good second half of the season but with two crucial blemishes: Both in the league and in the DFB Cup, he made crucial mistakes against FC Bayern," was the reasoning.
Also outside the top four were central defenders Sven Bender in fifth place and Edmond Tapsoba in seventh. Jonathan Tah was also considered. The Kicker on Bender: "Extremely consistent, strong tackling leader also scored important goals. The Leverkusen player just misses out on the international category." On Tapsoba, the magazine writes: "brought in from Guimarães in the winter, Edmond Tapsoba got off to a flying start at Leverkusen with some outstanding performances. Pace, strength in challenges and a remarkable calm on the ball characterise the 21-year-old. The talented youngster from Burkina Faso did have jobs in two big games that he could not initially cope with: in the cup final against Bayern and in the Europa League against Inter Milan."
Two Werkself players have been included in the squad of the season for the UEFA Europa League. The technical observers from UEFA voted for 23 players involved in the Europa League 2019/20 campaign – from Bayer 04 are Jonathan Tah and Kai Havertz. Tah made four appearances in the Europa League last season and Havertz made five. The offensive player scored four goals and provided two assists.
The German Football League (DFL) is continuing to work with the authorities for an early return of spectators this year. The DFL is "ready to take up binding discussions with the relevant political authorities (…). Based on facts, responsible graded solutions should be agreed according to the pandemic situation to allow implementation in November providing the level of infection allows it," was the declaration published on Friday. A summit of federal and state governments announced on Thursday that no spectators would be allowed in professional sport until at least the end of October and large-scale events where contact tracing and the maintenance of hygiene protocols are not possible will be forbidden until at least the end of the year. The DFL sees "no fundamental reason for the denial" of games with spectators in the Bundesliga and second division.
With their wonderful goals, Martin Terrier and Florian Wirtz are up for the Bundesliga Goal of the Year 2025. Voting for fans will run exclusively via the official Bundesliga app until Sunday, 4 January.
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Last-minute ecstasy, huge disappointment and a historic performance on the European stage - 2025 was a real emotional roller coaster, especially for the U19s. A rousing run in the knockout phase secured the team a place in the final of the German championships, where they lost by the narrowest of margins. Despite the departure of several key players, the young Werkself team quickly regained their usual strength and qualified for the knockout rounds in the UEFA Youth League for the first time at the end of the year. In 2025, youngsters Jeremiah Mensah and Montrell Culbreath made their debuts in the Bundesliga, the DFB Pokal and the UEFA Champions League. The other youth teams also contributed great performances and a number of trophies to the collective Black and Red success, while the successful Bayer 04 Future Kids project broke new ground. Read on for the 2025 review of the youth teams.
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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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A memorable 12 months: 2025 was a year marked by success, intense competition and groundbreaking innovations for the #B04eSports team. After ending the 2024/25 season as runners-up, the Leverkusen-based console pros got down to business in a new, completely restructured season model, in which showdowns rather than divisions were the decisive factor on the road to the final round of the German Club Championship. Bayer 04 quickly earned a place in the history books of the most prestigious competition in German eSports and secured some valuable advantages for the coming year. Bayer04.de takes a look back at 12 months full of passion and the determination to take the next step.
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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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