As it stands, Heiko Herrlich is likely to be without six of his players for the opening game of the season in the DFB Cup Round One tie away to CfR Pforzheim on Saturday (18 August, 15.30 CET). In addition to long-term absentees Lukas Hradecky (rehab training), Joel Pohjanpalo (ankle), Panos Retsos (thigh) and Charles Aránguiz (Achilles), Karim Bellarabi and Leon Bailey our definitely unavailable for the first competitive match of the new season away to the Baden-Württemberg Oberliga side as Herrlich announced after today’s training session.
Bellarabi (after twisting his knee at the training camp in Austria), who put in extra shifts in working hard to make his comeback, including completing the full session this afternoon, is “definitely not in with a chance for Saturday,” said Herrlich with one eye on the Bundesliga opener in Mönchengladbach (25 August) wishing to take no risks from a medical perspective. The chances are equally slim for Leon Bailey who only returned to full training yesterday after suffering a shoulder injury in the friendly against Basaksehir. However, the 21-year-old Jamaican was unable to train with the squad today due to “slight cold symptoms” – according to Herrlich that means Bailey faces more relaxed training regime over the next few days.
At today’s open training session, Bayer 04 fans waited in vain to see Lucas Alario and Paulinho plus Lars and Sven Bender. While the two South Americans were rested from today’s training sessions following slight knocks yesterday, the Bender twins were put through a recovery session by the coaching staff – all four completed individual routines in the gym at the BayArena.
Their outfield team-mates faced a 70-minute session in mild temperatures in Leverkusen again with recovery the foremost option. Herrlich and Co. organised a partnered move with different finishing rules from crosses. Here – under the eyes of Patrick Helmes (pictured above second right ), who is at Bayer 04 as part of his training to be a coach – the Austro- Croatian duo of Aleksandar Dragovic and Tin Jedvaj proved to be the most accurate finishers.
Tomorrow’s Thursday morning session (10.30 CET) is the final open training ahead of the game against Pforzheim with the Werkself making final preparations behind closed doors on Friday.
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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Bayer 04 Leverkusen have extended the contract with U19 midfielder Jonah Berghoff ahead of schedule. The Germany U18 international has signed professional terms with the club to 30 June 2030.
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Two months of preparation, five friendlies and the return of a familiar training camp location: After finishing fifth in the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga last season, the Werkself will return to training on Tuesday, 23 June. Bayer04.de outlines the key dates in the 2026 summer timetable.
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