
Julian Baumgartlinger, Aleksandar Dragovic and Tin Jedvaj were back in their black and red training kit yesterday– the trio completed a session in the weights room. Today they were back on the training ground – together with the three Germany players Julian Brandt, Kai Havertz and Jonathan Tah. In cool temperatures, the session lasted 90 minutes with a range of drills at the tail end of the run-in to this week's home game.
Isaac Kiese Thelin and Paulinho are expected to return tomorrow for the final pre-match training session. Both were involved in internationals on Tuesday. At the end of the Nations League group stage, Kiese Thelin’s Sweden knocked Russia off top spot in Group B2 to secure promotion to the A Group - thanks to a 2-0 win in a meeting of the two teams. The Werkself number 11 came off the bench for the final 20 minutes; the second goal for the 'Tre Konor' was scored shortly after he came on. Paulinho played the first half for the Brazil U20s in the second friendly against Colombia in five days (2-2).
The third international missing on Wednesday was Jakub Bednarczyk. The Poland U20 international had to go off half an hour into Monday's game against Ukraine due to a thigh muscle problem. The 19-year-old will undergo a through examination by the medical section in Leverkusen.

At its first general meeting on 5 February 2026 in Frankfurt am Main, the Frauen Bundesliga FBL e.V. made key decisions regarding the future direction of the Women’s Bundesliga. The meeting was based on the results of the negotiations with the German Football Association (DFB) over the past few weeks.
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Werkself-TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04's 3-0 win against FC St. Pauli in the quarter-final of the DFB-Pokal 2025/26...
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Once again in the last four! Bayer 04 put in a mature and, for long stretches, commanding performance to defeat a courageous FC St. Pauli in the quarter-finals of the 2025/26 DFB Pokal to reach the semi-finals of the competition for the third time in a row. Martin Terrier gave Leverkusen the lead on 32 minutes before Patrik Schick made it 2-0 on 63 minutes. Substitute Jonas Hofmann capped off a strong second half for the Werkself with the third goal in added time.
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The German Football League (DFL) has announced the three candidates for the title of Bundesliga Rookie of the Month for January. That includes Werkself player Jarell Quansah. Fans of Bayer 04 can vote for their favourite on the Bundesliga app from now until Thursday, 5 January (23:59 CET).
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As in the past two years, the Werkself are aiming to come out on top in the DFB Pokal quarter-finals on Tuesday night, 3 February (kick-off: 20:45 CET). With eleven home games in a row without defeat against the Kiezkicker, the Black and Reds go into the floodlit match in confident mood. But the Pokal, as is often said, has its own magic and the team from the Millerntor has much more to offer than the current 17th place in the Bundesliga would suggest. After all, Bayer 04 are one of the big German teams the combative Hamburgers have already made life difficult for this season. The matchday news.
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