Following Wednesday's session away from the training ground, the Werkself were able to put their football boots on again this morning. Due to the continuing heatwave, Heiko Herrlich and his coaching team brought training forward by half an hour to 10.00 CET – However the thermometer at the training ground was already showing a sizzling 33° early in the day. And it didn't take long before all of the total of 21 pros (plus 3 keepers) were sweating. No wonder the Werkself took regular drinks breaks. And after the training session there were other measures for cooling down. In terms of personnel, Jonathan Tah, Dominik Kohr, Paulinho and five U19 players (Ayman Azhil, Jan Boller, Kevin Bukusu, Cebralis Makreckis and Adrian Stanilewicz) were joined by Panos Retsos in full training. At least for the first part for the Greek. After that, he worked with Charles Aránguiz with the ball on the neighbouring pitch. In addition to Karim Bellarabi and the two long-term absentees Lukas Hradecky and Joel Pohjanpalo, the Bender twins (both picked up ankle problems in the recent friendlies against Siegen (3-0) and Wuppertal (2-0) were both absent at the start. Lars did appear 70 minutes after the start of training for an individual session on the pitch. By the way: The final session of the week is at 9.30 CET tomorrow morning.
In the Monday edition of the sports magazine 'kicker', Sven Bender, Jonathan Tah (both central defence) and Bernd Leno (goalkeepers) made it into the rankings of German football thanks that there performances in the second half of last season. Today's edition (#61) reveals that five other Werkself pros have earned recognition. In the position of 'Wing backs', Bayer 04 captain Lars Bender was ranked third by the editors behind Nico Schulz (Hoffenheim) and Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich) out of a total of 13 under the heading 'International class'and left back Wendell was thirteenth in the 'Up-and-coming' group. In defensive midfield, Charles Aránguiz held off the competition to finish top ahead of FC Bayern's Javi Martinez – team-mate Julian Baumgartlinger was ranked sixth out of a total of nine. In addition: Fritz Walter gold medal winner Kai Havertz was ranked eighth out of ten candidates in the offensive midfield category. Applause all round for the Werkself quintet.
Three weeks after the official start of the pre-season, Saturday marks the end of the special break for World Cup participant Julian Brandt. While his team-mates take part in the last friendly before the training camp in Salzburger Land (29 July to 5 August) away to the Dutch team Fortuna Sittard (Kick-off 18.00 CET), the Werkself number 10 will be going through the obligatory pre-season performance tests. The 22-year-old will undergo examination of heart and kidneys by the medical section at the Werkself. The day after that, Brandt will join the rest of the Bayer 04 squad In heading off to Austria. World Cup runner-up Tin Jedvaj will return to the Werkself after the training camp – he will probably return to full training on 8 August.
With their wonderful goals, Martin Terrier and Florian Wirtz are up for the Bundesliga Goal of the Year 2025. Voting for fans will run exclusively via the official Bundesliga app until Sunday, 4 January.
Show more
Four Bayer 04 players are in action at the 35th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations being played in Morocco from 21 December to 18 January 2026: Eliesse Ben Seghir for the hosts, Edmond Tapsoba with Burkina Faso, Ibrahim Maza for Algeria and Christian Kofane with Cameroon. Updates on the AFCON matches involving Werkself players...
Show more
The ‘year after’ the most successful year in the club's history brought many changes at Bayer 04. In an exclusive double interview with bayer04.de shortly before the Christmas break, Fernando Carro and Simon Rolfes spoke about building a new team capable of winning trophies, the work of coach Kasper Hjulmand, the young new signings who have quickly developed into key players, and their personal plans for the Christmas holidays. Their outlook for the coming year also shows that the potential is far from exhausted and ambitions remain high.
Show more
Sustainability once again had many faces at Bayer 04 in 2025: In community activity, the club supported countless regional campaigns, including the Leverkusener Tafel, the Frauenennotruf Leverkusen e.V. and the homeless aid organisation "Kältegang". But the Black and Reds have also been involved in good causes around the world - including the Young Coaches training programmes in Uganda and Ecuador plus the Genuine World Cup in the USA, where the Inclusion Werkself competed. Bayer 04 was also fully committed to the environment and underwent external and independently certification in accordance with the European environmental management standard EMAS, for example, to analyse and optimise the club’s environmental efforts. Looking back at sustainability in 2025.
Show more
Two Saturdays, one Friday and one Sunday: The dates for the Bayer 04 Women's team games on matchdays 16 to 19 have been finalised. Three of the four matches scheduled by the German Football Association (DFB) on Tuesday will be played at home at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium.
Show more
