Not normally a start full of fun but essential for a professional training programme. The Werkself are looking to lay the foundations for the most successful possible season over the coming weeks.
In addition to internal, orthopaedic and neurological tests, the players will go through an exhausting programme on Thursday and Friday with a series of jumping ability, stamina, vision and balance tests. In spite of that, the group were in high spirits. "Of course, after six weeks on holiday you look forward to coming back here. You somehow miss the team after such a long time," said a cheerful Kevin Volland. „"You know beforehand it will be two physically demanding days but that's all part of it."
The Bender twins and Kevin Volland were followed by the goalkeepers. Rambo Özcan was joined by the two new signings Lukas Hradecky and Thorsten Kirschbaum. Shortly after that came the next newcomer to Bayer 04 in the shape of Mitchell Weiser who completed the tests along with Panos Retsos and Dominik Kohr.
The Brazilian Paulinho will join up with the squad in the middle of July after celebrating his eighteenth birthday. The two players at the World Cup, Tin Jedvaj and Julian Brandt, are expected to return at the end of the month for the training camp in Zell am See-Kaprun. Jedvaj and Croatia face Russia in the quarter-finals on Saturday while Brandt is enjoying a well-deserved break after Germany's exit from the World Cup. The same applies to Jonathan Tah, who was in the initial Germany squad for Russia, and Julian Baumgartlinger plus Aleksandar Dragovic, who were on international duty with Austria after the end of the season.
The fans will have their first chance to see their team on the training ground on Saturday. Head coach Heiko Herrlich will lead the first session of the pre-season at 11.00 CET on training pitches 1 and 2. It will be broadcast in part live on Facebook and at bayer04.de.
Then it's time to get back on the bikes on Sunday. The Werkself are going to complete a three-day ride from Bad Bertrich via Koblenz and Bonn back to Leverkusen. "I can hardly wait," said Lars Bender with a smile, "we've all been measured up so we can have as comfortable a ride as possible with the right frame and, above all, the right saddle."
Two home matches on Saturday afternoons and three long away trips: the German Football Association (DFB) has finalised the fixtures for a further five matchdays in the Google Pixel Women’s Bundesliga. This means all of the Bayer 04 Women’s team league fixtures are now confirmed up to the end of November.
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Construction work continues on the ‘Haus der Talente’ on Kurtekottenweg in Leverkusen, where 36 young elite athletes will find a new home from next summer. The building team from Temmink Bau, led by Thomas Wellers, are hard at work. Over the past few days, excavators, wheeled loaders and rollers have removed 2,500 cubic metres of soil to excavate the basement.
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In a top-quality encounter, the Bayer 04 women’s team lost 3-2 at home to Bayern Munich. Paulina Tomasiak opened the scoring with a free-kick (36’) and also netted a superb goal to make it 2–1 (52’). Vanessa Gilles (51') and Edna Imade (68') equalised for FC Bayern in a fast-paced and extremely entertaining match. Alara Sehitler sealed the win late on for the reigning champions.
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Special events for a special match: Bayer 04 are offering fans a varied programme of events at tonight’s home game in the Google Pixel Women’s Bundesliga against German champions Bayern Munich (kick-off: 18:00 CEST). Alongside a number of interactive activities, events to mark the DFB Sustainability matchday are also planned around the Ulrich Haberland Stadium. Read on in the matchday news ahead of the clash with FC Bayern.
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