Florian Wirtz celebrated his 18th birthday less than two weeks ago and the Werkself striker has now clocked up the next record in the Bundesliga. Our number 27 scored the first goal in the home game against Union Berlin and played a big part in the 1-1 draw. The opening goal at the BayArena was his sixth in the Bundesliga and Wirtz is the youngest player to score that number at the age of 18 years and 12 days. He takes over the mantle from Bayern Munich’s Jamal Musiala (18 years, 50 days). Carry on, Flo!
Following the final home game and the warm-down session on Sunday, the Werkself had the day off on Monday with only a couple volunteers on training pitch 1 in the morning. Up to the last game of the season on Saturday, 22 May (kick-off: 15.30 CEST) away to Borussia Dortmund, the squad under head coach Hannes Wolf will train every day. Charles Aránguiz and Co. will also spend the rest of their time at Bismarckstraße – as part of the quarantine training camps for all Bundesliga teams ordered by the DFL the Bayer 04 group will spend the final days of the 2020/21 season at the Lindner Hotel BayArena.
After the session on Friday morning, the Werkself will head off to the Ruhr region to the matchday hotel.
This week promises to be as emotional as the past few days. The Bender brothers Sven and Lars leave the German football stage at the end of the season as two exemplary players and personalities. Like the Werkself with the Europa League, the next opponents from Dortmund achieved their minimum target for the season at the weekend – the Black and Yellows will finish in the top four.
Two Werkself players will join the long-term absentees in missing the final match of the campaign: Nadiem Amiri and Edmond Tapsoba each picked up a fifth yellow card against FC Union Berlin. The suspension of central defender Tapsoba could give Sven Bender the chance to appear at his former in his last outing – possibly from the start. Head coach Wolf said: “It’s great that Sven’s last match is in Dortmund. But it’s also a great pity that there won’t be any fans there. Otherwise, we’d definitely experience something special there.”
Another successful campaign by Werkself fans. The day after the clash with Union Berlin, supporters were able to secure seats from Block C. Due to coronavirus regulations it was necessary to register with the Bayer 04 fan liaison office. They allocated individual time slots enabling fans to their seats from the BayArena in their cars.
The seats from the BayArena will adorn numerous gardens and cellar bars – and that includes far beyond the city boundary of Leverkusen. Fans travelled by car to collect their seats from Mainz, Heidelberg, Unna, Aachen and Essen. They all made donations to PalliLev hospice. A total of €7,000 was raised. A big thank you to everybody who joined in.
The penultimate weekend of the season also brought decisions in the Third Division. League leaders Dynamo Dresden secured promotion at the first attempt with a 4-0 home win against Türkgücü Munich. An important contribution to the return to second tier was due to two former Leverkusen players who are now members of the Dresden coaching staff.
Heiko Scholz, a Werkself player from 1992 to 1995, has been the assistant coach for the past 18 months. David Yelldell, at Bayer 04 from 2011 to 2016, has been the goalkeeping coach at Dresden since last summer – and he can celebrate both promotion and the least goals conceded by any third division team this term. Bayer 04 send their congratulations.
He came to Kurtekotten when he was 13 and progressed through the ranks to the first team: Fabian Giefer joined the Werkself senior squad in 2009 and he went on to make eight appearances in the following three years. He made another 85 for the second team and the U19s.
His career path took him via Düsseldorf, Schalke 04, Bristol City (England) and Augsburg to his current club Würzburger Kickers. Giefer made 13 appearances for bottom team in the second division. Fabian celebrated his 31st birthday on Monday. Many happy returns.
Bayer 04 are through to the second round of the DFB Pokal after a 4-0 win at Sonnenhof Großaspach on Friday night. The game was paused after only 18 minutes due to a storm over the ground. After a lengthy delay, play resumed and Patrik Schick opened the scoring. Arthur, Christian Kofane and Alejandro Grimaldo made things more comfortable in the second half, as the fourth-tier side had two players sent off.
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There were no goals across 115 minutes of football between Bayer 04 Women and PSV Eindhoven in Friday’s friendly. Roberto Pätzold’s team played two 45-minute periods before an extra 25 minutes two days prior to heading to Rieden for their training camp. Their Dutch opponents were preparing for their UEFA Women’s Champions League qualifier in 12 days.
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The first round of the DFB Pokal takes Bayer 04 to Sonnenhof Großaspach on Friday. The amateur club have just gained promotion to the fourth-tier Regionalliga Südwest and kicked off their campaign with two impressive wins. Here’s all you need to know as Erik ten Hag makes his competitive bow as Werkself boss at the WIRmachenDRUCK Arena (kick-off: 6pm CEST).
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After two months preparing for the new season, the Werkself play the first game of the 2025/26 campaign on Friday, 15 August (kick-off: 18:00 CEST) away to SG Sonnenhof Großaspach in the first round of the DFB Pokal. Ahead of the tie against the team newly promoted to the Regional League South West, head coach Erik ten Hag talked about his approach to the knockout game and his soft spot for cup competitions.
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen has a new Premium Partner in its ranks in Düsseldorf company LumenHaus GmbH. The leading provider of networked home energy solutions has initially agreed a one-year partnership with the Bundesliga runners-up to the end of the 2025/26 season.
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