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.
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...
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Bayer 04 Women finish 2025 with the first game of the second half of the Google Pixel Bundesliga season as they host defending champions and league leaders Bayern Munich at the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion on Monday. Kick-off is at 18:00 CET. Here’s all you need to know ahead of the Matchday 14 encounter.
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The Werkself may have the festive season off, but four players will still be in action as they compete at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations. Eliesse Ben Seghir will open the 35th edition of the tournament with hosts Morocco on Sunday, 21 December. Edmond Tapsoba (Burkina Faso), Ibrahim Maza (Algeria) and Christian Kofane (Cameroon) are also going for continental glory.
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The media wanted to know if Malik Tillman had thought back in September and the team’s indifferent start to the season that they would go into the winter break in third place with 29 points from 15 games. His answer was short and clear: “Honestly, yes, because I simply believe in this team.” That team had just won 3-1 at RB Leipzig, who hadn’t dropped a single point at home previously this season. Here’s all the round-up from the game in our Werkself Review.
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