Simon Rolfes, sporting managing director at Bayer 04, Kim Falkenberg, head of recruitment at Bayer 04, and Paulo Sergio, Bayer 04 legend, began the day with a breakfast with local members of the media where subjects for discussion included current developments at the club.
After talking to the media, the Bayer 04 delegation made their way to the Colegio Benjamin Constant primary school to take part in a training session with the schoolchildren. Rolfes launched the session with motivational words for the children while Sergio did tricks with the ball that made him one of the most dangerous strikers in the world when he played for Bayer Leverkusen, Bayern Munich and AS Roma. Hundreds of schoolchildren watched excitedly, joined in with the session along with Simon Rolfes and Kim Falkenberg and encouraged each other in a relaxed atmosphere.
The Trophy Tour and the day ended with an evening at the Goethe-Institut in São Paulo where the Bayer 04 documentary 'A Dream Comes True' we showed for the first time with Portuguese subtitles. The three former Bayer 04 players Paulo Sergio, Zé Roberto and Henrique joined the audience. The players shared their views of the historic double winning season for the Werkself. The trio also recalled their time at Leverkusen and emphasise the ability of the club to successfully integrate players from different cultures over the years. Sergio played under the Cross from 1993 to 1997, Zé Roberto followed shortly after that from 1998 to 2002 and Henrique joined on loan a couple of years later in the 2008/2009 season.
The four part documentary of the double season, produced by Prime Video, Warner Brothers and in partnership with Bayer 04, was first broadcast in German-speaking countries in September and is now being made available in other global target markets by TV Globo.
Rolfes summed up the tour as follows: "Our days here were quite tiring, it's such a big city full of energy. But the programme, cultural impressions and, above all, talking to so many people were great and inspiring – for Bayer 04 but also for me personally."
While most of the players from the Bayer 04 Women's Bundesliga squad are enjoying their summer break, four players are again away on international duty. Three of them are in action in the UEFA Women's Nations League and three are away with Germany junior teams.
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Welcome, Erik ten Hag! Bayer 04 have appointed the 55-year-old Dutchman as the new head coach on a contract to 30 June 2027. Bayer04.de provides a closer introduction to ten Hag who recently coached the English club Manchester United and above all had great success at Ajax.
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Bayer 04 were in the Bundesliga title race well into spring and also progressed to the latter stages of the DFB Pokal. Ultimately, the team were unable to defend either title, but the Werkself did set a new Bundesliga record in their final game of the season, having bid an emotional farewell to Xabi Alonso and Jonathan Tah at the BayArena the previous week. It was the end of an era, as bayer04.de looks back on the 2024/25 season, with part two looking at January through to May.
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With the clash at Mainz 05 on the 34th and final matchday of the 2024/25 Bundesliga, another eventful season came to an end. The Werkself finished as runners-up in second place and can be proud of the joint third-best points tally in the club's history. Bayer04.de takes a look back - firstly at the period from the summer until the end of the year, in which the Werkself had to deal with high expectations and fluctuated between impressive performances, squandered leads and absolute top form.
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Bayer 04 will carry out important optimisations and maintenance work on the club's digital platforms from 09:00 on 26 May until likely 30 May.
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