A number of current and former top athletes are set to take part in the third charity football match to be held at the home of the Werkself. Proceeds from the game will go to the 41 Campus Project of the Dirk Nowitzki Foundation and projects run by the Keep Fighting Foundation of the Schumacher family.
The event starts at 16.30 CET and there will be a wide range of activities in and around the BayArena.
The two teams, ' Nowitzki All-Stars' and 'Schumacher & Friends’ will be able to count on support from the Bayer 04 ranks: Simon Rolfes and Stefan Kießling have already said yes to Dirk and Mick. One or two other Werkself players from the current squad will also make an appearance at the event - Peter Bosz and his players are set to return to Leverkusen from the training In Zell am See/Kaprun just before the match.
"I'm looking forward to coming back to Germany in the summer and taking part in a great football event with the fans and lots of athletes. Even if I'm not the most talented footballer, it's always great fun and I'll do my best," said Nowitzki. "I'm looking forward to an exciting and successful Champions for Charity event in Leverkusen," added his opposite number Schumacher.
Tickets for the Champions for Charity event are available now from €10 at www.champions-for-charity.de.
Strengthening the Bayer 04 Leverkusen youth teams: Konstantinos Kotsifakis will join the Werkself from Bundesliga 2 club Hertha Berlin for the 2026/27 season, where he will be a permanent member of the Leverkusen U19 coaching set-up. The German-Greek will also take on an operational role in coaching the Bayer 04 Future Team. The 29-year-old was most recently head coach of the U17s at Hertha Berlin.
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Another award for the Bayer 04 head groundsman and staff: After coming top in the 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2024/25 seasons, the BayArena pitch came second in the Bundesliga Pitch of the Year ranking for the 2025/26 season. VfL Wolfsburg secured the top spot this year, with TSG Hoffenheim in third place.
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Opening opponents, derby weekends, the opponents in the season finale: This information and more will be available to Bayer 04 fans on Thursday, 2 July, when the 2026/27 Bundesliga fixture list is published.
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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 personal 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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