For most of the Werkself squad, the coaching staff arranged a recovery session at the gym at the BayArena following yesterday's 7-0 win in the friendly against SV Roßbach/Verscheid. The goalkeeping trio of Ramazan Özcan, Thorsten Kirschbaum and Tomasz Kucz did complete part of the morning session on the pitch – as did Benny Henrichs who did a number of intense sprint dills under the eyes of the head coach and guidance of fitness coach Schahriar Bigdeli. Charles Aránguiz and Paulinho joined in 40 minutes later to work one-to-one with fitness coach Daniel Jouvin. The Brazilian new signing then completed dribbling and shooting drills with assistant coaches Nico Schneck and Xaverv Zembrod.
A visit from a Werkself pro at the Bayer 04 Soccer School holiday camps is a long-established tradition. On Thursday afternoon, the young participants in the '19NULLVIER' lounge at the BayArena had the opportunity to interrogate new signing Mitchell Weiser with a host of questions the children were keen to pose. And the kids discovered the type of car the surprise guest drives, which of the players in Heiko Herrlich's squad he gets on best with, what his favourite food is and whether he spends spare time on the PlayStation game Fortnite. The son of the Bayer 04 youth coach Patrick Weiser was busy answering questions for a good 15 minutes. And there was more to do after that: Following the group photo at the end of the Q. and A., the defender born in Troisdorf was happy to sign autographs and satisfy selfie requests from the 100 kids present.
New signing Paulinho was busy following his arrival from Brazil on Tuesday with being introduced to his new team-mates and the DFL Media Day. The 18-year-old also attracted great interest on Thursday morning with his first appearance on the training ground. And that continued in the afternoon. The young attacking talent faced the press at the BayArena media centre. The new Werkself number seven said he had a number or resolutions. "My first target is to settle in quickly and acclimatise. And then I'd like to win titles," he revealed in a 30-minute session with the media.
After back-to-back away defeats, Bayer 04 Women now face their penultimate home fixture of 2026 as they welcome Hamburg to the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion on Saturday (14:00 CET) seeking three important points in the Google Pixel Bundesliga.
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Several Werkself players are set to represent their national teams during the final international break of 2026. Here’s an overview of who has been called up and what matches they will face in November. This article will be updated regularly.
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After three consecutive wins in the Europa League, the Werkself suffered their first European defeat of the season against Marseille. In a first half with few chances, the Black and Reds gradually gained more and more control of the game, but were unable to convert that advantage into goals. Miguel Gutiérrez came closest to putting Leverkusen ahead with a shot that hit the crossbar. In the second half, the French side produced clinical finishing, with Amine Gouiri scoring from a counter-attack to make it 1-0 (77’). Right up to the final whistle, the Werkself threw everything forward in search of an equaliser, but were unable to find a way back into the game.
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Bayer 04 are riding a wave of success on the European stage: After three wins from their first three games and as the only team yet to concede a goal, the Werkself sit second in the table in the group stage of the UEFA Europa League. With another three points in their first-ever competitive match against Olympique Marseille on Thursday night, 5 November (kick-off: 21:00 CET), Bayer 04 could leap to the top of the table. Meanwhile, the French side are riding the wave of a winning streak in Ligue 1, but are yet to pick up any points in the Europa League. For one Werkself player, Thursday night will mark a reunion with his former team-mates. Today’s matchday news.
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The Bundesliga has finalised the fixtures for matchdays 12 to 18 of the 2026/27 season. Here is an overview of the dates.
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