Following the DFB Cup final on 4 July and an unusual and intensive run of games, the Werkself were able to enjoy a break before the first coronavirus tests are taken on Wednesday evening. A second set of tests will be carried out on Thursday morning and the first training session will be held tomorrow night. That marked the start of preparations for the Round of 16 second leg match in the Europa league against Glasgow Rangers on 6 August (kick-off: 18.55 CET).
Also undergoing tests is summer signing Lennart Grill. The goalkeeper joined Bayer 04 from third division FC Kaiserslautern and – given a negative test result – he will take part in the first training after a short break.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the initial training session and all other sessions will be held behind closed doors until further notice.
The Werkself are in second place behind FC Bayern on 61.5% in the Bundesliga rankings of teams with the most possession last season. Another stat was published on Wednesday in the Sport Bild magazine and the Black and Reds also did very well in that – and it is a Europea-wide statistic. Bayer 04 covered an average per game of 11.9 kilometres in possession of the ball. This figure puts the Bosz team fourth of all the clubs from the top five leagues in Europe (England, Spain, Italy, France and Germany). The ranking led by FC Bayern sees the Werkself ahead of big clubs like Barcelona, Real Madrid, Paris Saint Germain and Juventus.
Bayer 04 are also high up the table in the top five leagues in terms of the number of passes per game: The average of 656 completed passes puts the Rhinelanders in seventh place. Ahead of Liverpool, Napoli, Real Madrid and Juventus.
After relegation from the second division, Dynamo Dresden have extended the contract with assistant coach and former Werkself player Heiko Scholz by twelve months to 2021. The 54-year-old former winger joined Bayer 04 from Dresden as a player in 1992 and he went on to play in 75 Bundesliga matches for the Black and Reds (five goals, five assists). After three years, he moved on to Werder Bremen where he ended his playing career in the summer of 2000.
Scholz has been a coach since 2003. In December of last year, he gave up his position as head coach at the North-East Regional League side Wacker Nordhausen and took over as caretaker coach at Dynamo following the dismissal of Christian Fiel. Scholz is now assistant to Dynamo Dresden's head coach Markus Kauczinski.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen will to have manage without forward Eliesse Ben Seghir. The Morocco international suffered a ligament injury in his left ankle before the AFCON final defeat against Senegal (0-1 a.e.t.).
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The VBL Club Championship 2025/26 continues. Tonight, 27 January (live on Twitch and on the Bayer 04 app from 18:00 CET), the Leverkusen eSports team will play the remaining three matches in the online preliminary round of Showdown Four. They are up against FC Kaiserslautern, SC Freiburg and the current club champions and Showdown Three winners RB Leipzig, with whom Bayer 04, club runners-up and Showdown One winners, shared some memorable moments, especially last year. The lowdown on our next opponents.
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Welcome to Leverkusen, Jonas Omlin. Bayer 04 have signed the 32-year-old goalkeeper on loan from Bundesliga side Borussia Mönchengladbach until the end of the season. Managing director sport Simon Rolfes described the Swiss shot stopper, signed by the Werkself in reaction to the long-term absence of first choice keeper Mark Flekken, as an "internationally experienced keeper." Bayer04.de takes a closer look at the new signing, who will wear the number 18 jersey.
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Under the motto ‘Sound of Dreams - #aCROSS Europe 2025/26’, Bayer 04 are turning this season's UEFA Champions League season into a festival. In addition to a Spotify playlist that fans can use to get in the mood for the Champions League nights, there is also a tour pass with stickers for the respective UCL matches exclusively for Bayer 04 Club members. These could be picked up in the respective weeks of the matches. The sticker for the final clash in the league phase (Villarreal, 28 January, 21:00 CET) is now available at the Fanwelt. The competition for all diligent sticker collectors is also now open. Read on for further information.
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