The Werkself have their first open training session on 15 July, the day after returning to work, and that will be followed by the first friendly away to third-division side Rot-Weiss Essen on 26 July (kick-off at 19:00 CEST). The official Bayer 04 training camp will be held in Donaueschingen in the Black Forest from 28 July to 2 August. The team hotel is Der Öschberghof and Bayer 04 will use the training facilities of local club SV Aasen, where Premier League club Liverpool trained last year under head coach Jürgen Klopp. The Spain team are also based there this summer for the European Championship.
At the end of the training camp, the team will travel from Donaueschingen to France, for a friendly against French Ligue 1 side RC Lens on Saturday 3 August (16:00 CEST).
Four days later, the Werkself face another stern test, this time in England. The friendly at Arsenal, whose team includes ex-Bayer 04 man Kai Havertz, takes place at the Emirates Stadium in London on Wednesday 7 August (19:00 CEST, 18:00 local time).
All dates at a glance* (all times CEST):
*Last-minute changes are possible
Further dates will be announced by Bayer 04.
The Werkself will play Bundesliga runners-up VfB Stuttgart in the DFL Supercup on 17 August in Leverkusen. Bayer 04 will open the 2024/25 Bundesliga season in defence of their title on Friday 23 August (opponents to be confirmed).
In their third friendly of this pre-season, Bayer 04 played on home soil for the first time – and won there too! The Werkself claimed a comfortable 4-0 victory against Belgian top-flight side KRC Genk at the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion. Jeanuel Belocian (9’) and Nathan Tella (42’) gave a dominant Leverkusen a 2-0 lead at the break, which Afonso Moreira (51’) and Christian Kofane (53’) doubled after the break. Among the many second-half substitutions was Patrik Schick, who made his first friendly appearance of the summer.
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The Werkself are finally back. On Saturday 8 August, Bayer 04 kick off the 2026/27 campaign with their opening match. But there’s far more than just a double-header in store for Werkself supporters. True to the motto ‘One day. Two teams. One club’, the BayArena and the Ulrich Haberland Stadium will be transformed into a world of excitement.
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The Werkself continue their 2026/27 pre-season preparations with their third friendly against Belgian top-flight side KRC Genk at the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion on Wednesday 29 July (kick-off 15:00 CEST). Werkself-TV is broadcasting the match live and in full in a stream from 14:50 CEST...
After the children from the Bayer 04 Football Academy grilled Janis Blaswich and Simeon Rapsch last week, another group of 20 young Werkself fans gathered at the BayArena press conference room on Tuesday afternoon, 28 July . This time, the kids directed their questions at Tim Oermann and Jonah Berghoff. Defender Oermann raved about his school days, whilst talented midfielder Berghoff revealed to the young footballers, amongst other things, who his favourite player is – and he is also at Bayer 04. To round things off, the pair naturally obliged with all requests for autographs and selfies.
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Bayer 04 are back on the pitch. Following the first training sessions, the Werkself play the first pre-season friendly on Saturday, July 18. The match against Oberliga club Sportfreunde Baumberg kicks off at 15:30 CEST in Monheim am Rhein. Fans unable to attend the match can watch head coach Carles Martínez’s first game in charge for free via a livestream at bayer04.de and on the Bayer 04 app, as well as on Werkself.tv (exclusively for members). Just log on and watch the games live. All the other Werkself preseason friendlies leading up to the 2026/27 season will also be streamed live for free.
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