After the hard-fought 1-0 win against Borussia Mönchengladbach in the DFB Cup, the Bayer 04 pros had the chance to take a well-deserved break over the festive period into the New Year. Although this winter break has been shorter than normal due to the World Cup finals in the summer with the associated earlier start to the second half of the Bundesliga campaign, Werkself players and coaching staff used the opportunity to get far away to recharge their batteries: Bernd Leno spent a couple of days in New York, Stefan Kießling went to Austria with his family, Joel Pohjanpalo took a break in Helsinki and Karim Bellarabi went to Africa.
Today, the focus is clearly on the restart of the league campaign with what promises to be a cracker of a match on Friday 12 January at 20.30 CET in front a sell-out crowd at the BayArena against the runaway league leaders and reigning champions Bayern Munich. After the opening session on Tuesday, the Werkself have a double shift on Tuesday (10.30 CET and 15.30 CET) with another public session on Thursday (15.30 CET) before the first of two friendlies. Bayer 04 entertain second division SpVgg Greuther Fürth at the Haberland Stadium on Friday before taking on third division Preußen Münster at the same venue on Saturday. The two games kick off at 14.00 CET. The three South Americans Charles Aránguiz, Wendell and Lucas Alario will join their team-mates on Wednesday as Heiko Herrlich has given the trio an extra day off due to the long journeys from Chile, Brazil and Argentina.
There is another highlight for the Werkself at the weekend. During the ARD Sportschau TV show on Sunday the draw will be held for the quarter-finals of the DFB Cup at 18.00 CET – and it's fingers crossed for a favourable draw in the last eight.
Assistant coach Remzi Kahraman is leaving the Bayer 04 Women’s team with immediate effect to take up a new challenge abroad. The club has agreed to the 31-year-old’s request to leave, although his contract was originally due to run until 2027. A decision on his successor will be announced shortly.
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At the U19 European Championship in Wales, the Germany U19 national team lost their third and final group match 4-0 to Spain. Several regulars, including Bayer 04 players Montrell Culbreath and Francis Onyeka (on loan to SV Elversberg), who had combined for four goals and assists in the two previous victories, did not feature,. Germany had already secured their place in the semi-finals with a game to spare.
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The FIFA World Cup 2026 in the USA, Canada and Mexico is underway. A total of eight Leverkusen players are taking part in the 23rd World Cup, with 48 teams in the tournament for the first time. Bayer04.de brings you all the latest from Werkself players at the World Cup.
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At the end of June, Bayer 04 became the first team in the Google Pixel Women’s Bundesliga to begin their pre-season preparations. As well as training sessions at the Kurtekotten facility, the players under coach Roberto Pätzold completed the customary series of performance diagnostics. Werkself-TV presents exclusive insights and player interviews from the first few days after the summer break.
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