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.
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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No points in the Kraichgau: the Werkself lost 1-0 away to top-six rivals TSG Hoffenheim on Bundesliga Matchday 18. Wouter Burger scored the only goal with a free kick in the ninth minute. In an uneventful contest, the Werkself tried hard to find an equaliser but were repeatedly thwarted.
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The meeting between fifth and sixth on Saturday afternoon (17 January, 15:30 CET) is a hard one to predict. While the Werkself can take confidence from their historic record at TSG Hoffenheim, the hosts are currently enjoying their second-best Bundesliga campaign and have lost just one of their last 10 games. Another good omen for Bayer 04: Daniel Schlager also refereed Leverkusen's last victory in Sinsheim (4-1). The Matchday News.
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At the end of the winter training camp in Portugal, the Bayer 04 Women convincingly mastered their friendly ahead of the start of the second half of the season. In the match against Swiss league leaders Servette FCCF, coach Roberto Pätzold's team won 3-0 at the Monte Gordo Sports Complex. Carlotta Wamser (4’), Vanessa Fudalla (18’) and Loreen Bender (53’) scored for Bayer 04, who have been preparing for the Rückrunde in the Algarve since last Saturday.
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The German Football League (DFL) has rescheduled the postponed fixture at Hamburger SV on Bundesliga matchday 17. The match, due to be played on Tuesday, has now been rescheduled for Wednesday, 4 March (kick-off: 20:30 CET).
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