For his move under the Cross, Josip Stanisic is leaving his birthplace and hometown Munich for the first time in his football career. "The team is packed with top players and I was really motivated by my talks with the club," said the defender. "There are clear ideas here and an exceptional environment. I'm really looking forward to the Werkself – for me they were one of the most exciting teams in the Bundesliga last season," the versatile defender explained in giving his reasons for the move to Leverkusen.
Stanisic took his first steps in football at the Munich club FC Perlach before joining the renowned academy at 1860 Munich at the age of nine. He stayed with the Lions for six years before joining SC Fürstenfeldbruck to the west of Munich. As a U17 player, Stanisic finally aroused interest of the biggest club in the Bavarian capital and he signed for Bayern Munich.
Despite injuries, Stanisic became an important player in the youth teams at the German record champions, trained with the now Bundesliga coach Sebastian Hoeneß in the U19s and he was a captain of the side in his second season.
He joined the FC Bayern second team for the 2019/20 season after they had been promoted to the third division. His coach Hoeneß went the same way and turned Stanisic from a central defensive player to a full-back.
In the late autumn of the following 2020/21 season, Stanisic had established himself as right-back with the FC Bayern second team and – with several players injured in the first team – he made his debut in the Bundesliga on 10 April 2021. Under the current Germany coach Hansi Flick, who was at the BayArena on Saturday for the Bundesliga match against RB Leipzig (3-2), Stanisic played the full 90 minutes against Union Berlin. However, that was his only appearance in the top-flight in 2021/22.
The following season he was part of the senior squad with good performances in training and games at the start of the season earning him a professional contract in November 2022 that ran to 2026. Stanisic played 13 games in the Bundesliga but he suffered muscular problems around the turn of the year. Last season he made 14 appearances in the top-flight as well as eight in the Champions League. He celebrated his third title win in succession with FC Bayern on the final matchday of the season.
At the international level, Stanisic, who has both German and Croatian nationality, opted for Germany in 2018 and he played two games for the Germany U19s. The Croatia Football Association became aware of Stanisic in the summer of 2021 after his regular appearances with FC Bayern – and they finally persuaded him to change his international team.
The first appearance for Croatia came in October 2021, almost a year later he played in the World Cup in Qatar. Croatia went out at the semi-final stage against the eventual winners Argentina including Bayer 04 player Exequiel Palacios. Now Stanisic and Palacios – at least at club level – will be on the pitch together.
Kicking off the new season with a fresh look: Bayer 04, in collaboration with sportswear manufacturer New Balance, has unveiled the official kit for Leverkusen’s e-Sports players for the coming season. The jersey is now available from the Bayer 04 online shop and the Fanwelt.
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Paulo Sergio and Bayer 04 have enjoyed close ties since the Werkself training camp in his native Brazil last summer. The club legend is in charge of the Bayer 04 Soccer Academy, which opened in the summer of 2025, and he has also been at this year’s training camp in the Weimarer Land. As well as interacting with the many fans who travelled to the camp, the 1994 World Cup winner used the time to plan the next steps for the Academy together with club officials. In an interview with bayer04.de, Sergio spoke about the project’s future development, the upcoming visit by young Academy players to Leverkusen, and plans for the coming months in Germany and Brazil.
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A round-up of the Werkself training camp in the Weimarer Land, all in one place: in our daily blog you’ll find all the insights and updates from the day. Day five (Thursday 6 August) is as follows: The squad have the final open session of the training camp in the morning. After lunch, there will be a team event.
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A round-up of the Werkself training camp in the Weimarer Land, all in one place: in our daily blog you’ll find all the insights and updates from the day. Day four (Wednesday 5 August) is all about training. The day begins with a gruelling open training session – new signing Miguel Gutiérrez also takes part. A second session follows in the afternoon, this time behind closed doors.
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At the training camp in the Weimarer Land region, Bayer 04 head coach Carles Martínez and his long-standing assistant Pol García talk about their first few weeks with the Werkself, their expectations of their own work, the coaching staff and the squad, as well as the style of football they want the team to play. They emphasise the importance of a winning mentality within the team, comment on cultural and personal differences in the world of football, and outline their goals for the coming season...
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