The Werkself started training this week on Monday afternoon without Sven Bender: The Bayer 04 number five picked up a foot injury in Saturday's 3-0 win in the friendly at Sportfreunde Siegen and is likely to be out of action for a couple of days. In contrast, there was positive news for Dominik Kohr who completed two one-on-one sessions on the training ground with fitness coach Daniel Jouvin on Monday following his knee injury – the 24-year-old may return to full training in the next few days. The same applies to Panos Retsos who will have a carbon splint fitted on Tuesday after his metacarpal fracture – he is due to return to full training at the training camp in Zell am See.
The Kicker sports journal has reviewed and ranked the Bundesliga pros for last season. The rankings for the positions of central defence and goalkeeper were published in today's edition (#60): In the view of the editors, Jonathan Tah achieved fifth place in the 'International class' for his number of challenges and ability to start moves. And his fellow defender Sven Bender (fifteenth) was ranked in the 'Up and coming' group. A total of 18 players qualified. Amongst the goalkeepers, Bernd Leno also finished in the 'Up and coming' group in ninth position. The shot-stopper has moved on to Arsenal to take on a new challenge in the Premier League. His successor in goal for the Werkself, the former Eintracht Frankfurt keeper, Lukas Hradecky, was the sixth-best goalkeeper in the Bundesliga according to Kicker. Congratulations to all 04!
It's common knowledge that there are a number of motor sport fans at the Werkself. After Lars and Sven Bender went to the Austrian Grand Prix in July, Benny Henrichs and Jonathan Tah used their day off on Sunday to go and watch Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton and Co. in the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim. The Bayer 04 defenders met up with a number of guests including World Champion Nico Rosberg, Germany striker Timo Werner and celebrity photographer Paul Ripke.
Werkself pro Leon Bailey had an exclusive media session at the Fritz-Jacobi-Halle in Leverkusen-Manfort. At the end of March, he was able to witness the unconventional training methods used by sprinter Gina Lückenkemper – also in relation to the forthcoming German Championships for the TSV Bayer Leverkusen athlete. After the 21-year-old successfully defended her 100-metre national title at the weekend, the Werkself number nine sent his congratulations to the athlete. The super fast Jamaican wished the top German sprinter every success at the European Championships in Berlin (7 to 12 August) in a video message.
The Werkself face fourth tier Wuppertaler SV in the third pre-season friendly tomorrow. The game at the Stadion am Zoo (Hubertusallee 4, 42117 Wuppertal) kicks off at 19.00 CET. As in Saturday's game against Siegen, Bayer 04 TV will again broadcast the match live on bayer04.de and the Werkself Facebook page. In addition, the Social Media section will be there to report via the usual club streams.
Once again, well over 100 Werkself fans were delighted to receive an invitation from the club’s record appearance-maker, Rüdiger Vollborn, to the sold-out Schwadbud at the BayArena. This time, the supporters listened as the club historian provided fascinating, exclusive insights into the period from Bayer 04 being founded in 1904 to the club’s promotion to the Bundesliga in 1979. A journey through time is also planned for the upcoming ‘Rudi lädt ein’ event in early November – this time focusing on the years of the Nazi regime.
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Happy children’s faces at the SSV Lützenkirchen training ground: For the 25th time, the Birkenberg soccer school – organised by SportBund Leverkusen – offered participating youngsters an exciting holiday activity. Meeting a Bayer 04 player has now become a cherished tradition. This time, Ibrahim Maza visited the 150 children and spoke to them about his World Cup experiences, amongst other things. “It’s always lovely to see the children’s enthusiasm for football,” said the 20-year-old, after bringing a sparkle to many eyes with selfies and autographs.
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One day after the successful DFB Pokal first round tie at SV Wehen Wiesbaden (4–0), the mood was understandably really good: Over 400 Bayer 04 supporters gathered on Sunday, 23 August, for the annual fan club meet-up at the BayArena and got in the mood for the new season through direct and informal discussions with Bayer 04 management, head coach Carles Martínez and Werkself players.
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Werkself-TV shows the highlights of the Bayer 04 women's 2-0 win at RB Leipzig on the 1st matchday of the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga 2026/27.
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