In the national team of the West African state with a population of around 23 million, Edmond Tapsoba has been an undisputed first choice for years. The Leverkusen player, who won the Bundesliga and the DFB Pokal double plus the Supercup with the Werkself in the summer, has only missed one of the last 14 international fixtures – a friendly against Niger. He has played the full 90 minutes in every game. To date Tapsoba has won 47 caps for his country and scored one goal.
Tapsoba, under the Cross since January 2020, is also a regular starter at Bayer 04: He was in the starting line-up in eleven of the last twelve matches and was only substituted once.
The other nominations for the African Player of the Year are: Amine Gouiri (Stade Rennes/Algeria), Simon Adingra (Brighton & Hove Albion/Ivory Coast), Chancel Mbemba (Olympique Marseille/DR Congo), Serhou Guirassy (Borussia Dortmund/Guinea), Achraf Hakimi (Paris Saint-Germain/Morocco), Soufiane Rahimi (Al-Ain FC/Morocco), Ademola Lookman (Atalanta Bergamo/Nigeria), William Troost-Ekong (Al-Kholood/Nigeria), Ronwen Williams (Sundowns/South Africa).
Away from football, Tapsoba has primarily done a lot for the people in his home country. In the summer he formed the ‘Fondation Edmond Tapsoba’ in Burkina Faso. The foundation based in Ouagadougou has the target of sustainably supporting people in different areas of life. The main focus is on measures for disadvantaged children, older people, the homeless, victims of violence, people with serious illnesses, refugees and people with disabilities.
Tapsoba spoke to bayer04.de a while ago about his motivation, his targets and desires for his project. HERE is the interview.
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 personalised 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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Ticket sales for another Bayer 04 Women's home game have begun. Fans can now purchase tickets for the match against SGS Essen at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium on Saturday, 22 November. The latest information at a glance.
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It took 120 minutes, but once again Bayer 04 produced a late goal to win their DFB Pokal second-round tie away at Paderborn on Wednesday. “Same as always” was the line in Bild in homage to the 2023/24 double-winning season. With Jeanuel Belocian making his first start in over a year and Ibrahim Maza netting his first Werkself goal to secure a place in the last 16, Jonas Hofmann is eager to “take the positive feeling” into the next round.
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A DFB Pokal thriller that had it all - including a positive outcome from a Bayer 04 perspective. After a goalless and uneventful first half, the second round tie at SC Paderborn 07 really took off: Following a red card for the second division side, Grimaldo scored to give Bayer 04 a 1-0 lead but Paderborn levelled before the end of normal time. The home side then turned the game round at 2-1 in extra time, before Quansah, Maza and Garcia scored for the Werkself to make it 4-2 to seal a place in the Round of 16.
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