The Werkself have their first open training session on 15 July, the day after returning to work, and that will be followed by the first friendly away to third-division side Rot-Weiss Essen on 26 July (kick-off at 19:00 CEST). The official Bayer 04 training camp will be held in Donaueschingen in the Black Forest from 28 July to 2 August. The team hotel is Der Öschberghof and Bayer 04 will use the training facilities of local club SV Aasen, where Premier League club Liverpool trained last year under head coach Jürgen Klopp. The Spain team are also based there this summer for the European Championship.
At the end of the training camp, the team will travel from Donaueschingen to France, for a friendly against French Ligue 1 side RC Lens on Saturday 3 August (16:00 CEST).
Four days later, the Werkself face another stern test, this time in England. The friendly at Arsenal, whose team includes ex-Bayer 04 man Kai Havertz, takes place at the Emirates Stadium in London on Wednesday 7 August (19:00 CEST, 18:00 local time).
All dates at a glance* (all times CEST):
*Last-minute changes are possible
Further dates will be announced by Bayer 04.
The Werkself will play Bundesliga runners-up VfB Stuttgart in the DFL Supercup on 17 August in Leverkusen. Bayer 04 will open the 2024/25 Bundesliga season in defence of their title on Friday 23 August (opponents to be confirmed).
Strengthening the Bayer 04 Leverkusen youth teams: Konstantinos Kotsifakis will join the Werkself from Bundesliga 2 club Hertha Berlin for the 2026/27 season, where he will be a permanent member of the Leverkusen U19 coaching set-up. The German-Greek will also take on an operational role in coaching the Bayer 04 Future Team. The 29-year-old was most recently head coach of the U17s at Hertha Berlin.
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Another award for the Bayer 04 head groundsman and staff: After coming top in the 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2024/25 seasons, the BayArena pitch came second in the Bundesliga Pitch of the Year ranking for the 2025/26 season. VfL Wolfsburg secured the top spot this year, with TSG Hoffenheim in third place.
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Opening opponents, derby weekends, the opponents in the season finale: This information and more will be available to Bayer 04 fans on Thursday, 2 July, when the 2026/27 Bundesliga fixture list is published.
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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 as he worked 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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