In the vote for the Newcomer of the Season held by the VDV players union, Florian Wirtz came out on top with 21% of the votes to pick up the 'Silver Arrow' award as the best young player in the 2021/22 Bundesliga season. Our number 27 beat some stiff competition: In second place was the new Dortmund player Nico Schlotterbeck (16%) and third place went to Jamal Musiala of Bayern Munich (15%).
And that's not all: The 19-year-old also made it into the VDV Bundesliga team. Together with teammate Patrik Schick (36%), Wirtz (37%) was named in the VDV 11 of the current season. Also in the side: Mark Flekken (SC Freiburg, 24%), David Raum (1899 Hoffenheim, 32% ), Nico Schlotterbeck (SC Freiburg, 80%), Niklas Süle (Bayern München, 31%), Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich, 52%), Jude Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund, 47%), Christopher Nkunku (RB Leipzig, 68%), Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich, 84%) and Erling Haaland (Borussia Dortmund, 35%).
The VDV team is decided by votes from all players in the Bundesliga, Bundesliga 2, League 3 and the Regional Leagues plus all other VDV members entitled to vote.
The BILD tabloid has produced a top 50 of all former and current players at the 18 Bundesliga clubs. The Brazilian Lucio came out top for the Werkself. The powerful defender stood out with his leadership qualities and his uncompromising challenges. The 2002 World Cup winner made 122 appearances for the Black and Reds from January 2001 to July 2004.
The highest placed Werkself player from the current Leverkusen first team squad is Florian Wirtz. The 19-year-old is in tenth place and he makes it into the top 11 of all time – alongside Bayer 04 honorary captains Ulf Kirsten, Rüdiger Vollborn and Bernd Schneider.
Bayer 04 congratulate Thomas Zdebel: The youth coach today celebrates his 49th birthday. The former Poland international joined Leverkusen from TV Herkenrath as a U17 coach in 2019 after having played for the Werkself from January 2009 to the summer of 2010. He wore the Bayer 04 shirt for 18 months in twelve Bundesliga matches, one DFB Cup game for the Black and Reds and he was also in the side that made it to the DFB Cup final in 2009. Zdebel is still playing for the Werkself Veterans team. Many happy returns, Thomas.
Samed Yesil today celebrates his 28th birthday. The German-Turkish centre-forward progressed through all the Werkself youth teams before joining Liverpool for the 2012/13 season. The central striker went on to play for FC Luzern, Panionios, Ankara Demirspor, KFC Uerdingen and VfB Homberg. The six foot tall striker from Düsseldorf is currently playing for the Oberliga club DJK St. Tönis. Many happy returns.
Bayer 04 have agreed a loan move for U19s striker Ken Izekor to join Bundesliga 2 club Eintracht Braunschweig on loan for the rest of the 2025/26 season.
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Bayer 04 have agreed a loan deal for Jeanuel Belocian to join fellow Bundesliga club Wolfsburg on loan until the end of the season. The 20-year-old defender’s contract in Leverkusen runs until 30 June 2029.
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SAB-P GmbH is to become Bayer 04 Leverkusen's first official inclusion partner. The company, which has previously been involved in the club's Business Club, is underlining its social commitment to inclusion with an agreement that runs until 31 May 2027. Among other things, it will be the shirt sponsor of the Inclusion Team from the 2026/27 season onwards.
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The Werkself were impressive in the 3-1 win against Eintracht Frankfurt with clinical finishing and a first half "at a high level" that head coach Kasper Hjulmand draws a lot of positives from. The same should apply to Arthur, who scored for the first time in the Bundesliga. Edmond Tapsoba, for his part, was happy about his 250th appearance in a Bayer 04 jersey. "I think we're slowly finding our feet again," said goalscorer Malik Tillman, summing up the performance. The Werkself review.
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Rüdiger Vollborn has been at the club for 40 years, he holds the record number of Bundesliga appearances for the club (401) and is the only Bayer 04 player to have won both the UEFA Cup (1988) and the DFB Pokal (1993). And the Berliner stayed with the Werkself after ending his impressive playing career as he worked as a goalkeeping coach for the following nine years. Vollborn now works under the Bayer Cross as a fan liaison officer and club archivist. Since February 2021, the personalised Black and Red lexicon takes Werkself fans under the heading of 'Rudi recounts...' on a brief trip through the history of Bayer 04 every month.
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