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.
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 working 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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Bayer 04 host top French club Marseille at the BayArena on matchday four in the 2026/27 UEFA Europa League group stage. The match kicks off on Thursday 5 November at 21:00 CET. The latest information on ticket sales.
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The BAYER 04 HILFT Day is celebrating an anniversary: for the tenth year running, a large number of employees of the Bundesliga club have been getting involved in a community project in Leverkusen and the surrounding area. Following the refurbishment of the city library last year, this time around some 70 staff members rolled up their sleeves to help out at the Bunker Youth Centre in Leverkusen-Wiesdorf. With the support of the Lebenshilfe workshops in Leverkusen and partner Coca-Cola, a rubber football pitch was laid, a Bayer 04-style lounge was created and other projects were carried out. Werkself players and coaching staff also gave their all.
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen and sponsors club partner NRG24 are continuing their partnership, which has been in place since the summer of 2023. The Bundesliga football club and the energy consultancy firm have extended their successful partnership until 30 June 2027.
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