Dr Burak Yildirim is ending his time at Leverkusen this summer. The 45-year-old doctor for orthopaedics, emergency surgery and sports medicine will completely focus on his practice in Pulheim in the future. "I'd like to thank all players, management and staff for the years of support and trust. I'm proud to have been part of this great club for so long."
Yildirim came to Bayer 04 in 1996. He started as a youth coach before moving into the section providing commentary for the visually impaired after three years. He became the team doctor in 2013 and has carried out that role for the last ten years.
His successor is Dr Stefan Porten. The 46-year-old is taking over looking after the Bayer 04 first team squad immediately together with Dr Philipp Ehrenstein. Dr Porten was the team doctor for the Germany U20 and U21 teams and for many years and up to 2018 he was the team doctor at Borussia Mönchengladbach. Dr Porten has an orthopaedic surgery in Cologne.
Dr Daniel Lay, previously the team doctor for the Germany Women's U20 team, will look after the medical needs of the Bayer 04 U19 and Women's teams.
Sven Elsinger is returning to the Leverkusen physios. The 55-year-old is taking charge of the first team physiotherapy section, a position he held for 13 years up to 2021. Elsinger recently worked in the youth section at Bayer 04. His deputy is Ill-Han Yun.
Jonas Rath is a new fitness coach at the Werkself. The 43-year-old was the fitness coach at Borussia Mönchengladbach for the last three years. Rath takes over from Schahriar Bigdeli who occupied that role since 2006 after being a long jumper with TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen.
Werkself TV shows highlights of the 2-0 win at Olympiacos in the first leg of the play-offs of the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 league...
Show more
The Werkself beat Olympiacos 2-0 in the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League play-off first leg to claim a crucial victory in the Greek capital. After a focused first-half display with a number of presentable chances, Patrik Schick crowned a textbook counter to hand the Werkself the lead on the hour (60’). The Czech rounded off his brace when he headed in from a corner just 144 seconds later. Bayer 04 maintained their lead with aplomb to achieve a good position for the return leg in Leverkusen.
Show more
Bayer 04 and Olympiacos had only met twice before the current UEFA Champions campaign. After the encounter on Matchday 7 of this season’s league phase, the Werkself travel to face the Greek side for the second time in just four weeks for the knockout play-off first leg. The Black and Reds were dominant for large spells in mid-January but lost 2-0 after missing a number of presentable chances. The Werkself aim to do better on Wednesday night to “seize the chance for revenge,” as managing director sport Simon Rolfes put it. Here’s all you need to know ahead of the game in our matchday news.
Show more
A bitter end to the fifth showdown of the 2025/26 VBL Club Championship as the #B04eSports team failed to take any points in the three remaining matches of the preliminary online round of the fifth and final showdown, missing out on the offline round. They can no longer take points in the overall table. Bayer 04 slipped out on the top eight, so direct participation in the final event for the German Club Championship is no longer possible, with Bayer 04 having to contest the play-offs.
Show more
