
Roger Schmidt led a two-hour training session on Tuesday that included many youngsters. In the absence of the international players they were able to join first team stars Lars Bender, Stefan Kießling and Chicharito.
Following an energetic session, Stefan Kießling took a tour around Leverkusen on the new Bayer 04 Schwadbus. Bayer 04 TV will feature an interview with the striker tomorrow but the first pictures are already available on Instagram. Just look for bayer04fussball on the Instagram app.
Mehmedi scores for Switzerland
Congratulations to Admir Mehmedi. The Werkself striker was the centre of attention in the 2-1 victory for Switzerland in the World Cup qualifier against Andorra. First, he was fouled for the penalty before going on to head his country into a 2-0 lead. That was the third win in three qualifiers for the Swiss.
Robbie Kruse is currently further afield. He was in the Socceroos side for the World Cup qualifier against rivals. Kruse came on at the start of the second half in a 1-1 draw that was a fair reflection of the match.
Germany clock up another win
Bayer 04 players were also on international duty on Tuesday night: Already qualified for next year’s European Championships in Poland, Jonathan Tah and the Germany U21s celebrated ten wins on the bounce with a 4-1 victory against Austria. That was followed in the evening by success for the senior team with Germany securing a 2-0 win against Northern Ireland. Julian Brandt, Bernd Leno and Kevin Volland started on the bench as Julian Draxler and Sami Khedira scored the goals in the opening 17 minutes. Volland replaced Jonas Hector with nine minutes to play.
In the early hours of Wednesday morning there will be World Cup qualifiers in South America. Charles Aránguiz and Wendell are in line to play for their countries. Aránguiz and Chile take on Peru with Brazil, including newly selected Wendell, away to Venezuela.


In mid-August, the Werkself will set off on a four-day trip to England to play their final two friendly matches of the 2026/27 pre-season against Premier League clubs Nottingham Forest and Newcastle United. The match in Nottingham against the Tricky Trees is on Wednesday 12 August at 20:45 CEST (19:45 BST) at the City Ground. The game against the Magpies in Newcastle is on Saturday 15 August at 16:00 CEST (15:00 BST) at the atmospheric St James’ Park. Details on ticket sales for both matches.
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Black and Red talent development at the highest level – even off the pitch: Apprentices Jule Suermann, Leandra Bellia and Julia Niederheide have successfully completed their two- or three-year apprenticeships at the club. Bayer 04 honoured the trio at the BayArena on Tuesday.
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Rieden reloaded: Just like last year, the Bayer 04 Women’s team are spending their summer training camp in this idyllic corner of Bavaria. From this Sunday, coach Roberto Pätzold’s team will be based in Rieden in the Upper Palatinate for a week.
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Following the summer break, most of the players are back in Leverkusen. While two Bayer 04 first-team players are still in action at the World Cup, the players present officially kicked off the new season with fitness assessments. At the Werkstatt, the Bayer 04 rehabilitation and training centre, Robert Andrich, Edmond Tapsoba and the rest of the squad worked up quite a sweat in the sweltering summer heat. New signings Afonso Moreira and Kennet Eichhorn also successfully completed the day’s sessions alongside their new team-mates.
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The Werkself return tomorrow, Tuesday 14 July (from 11:00 CEST at the BayArena; live stream on bayer04.de, the Bayer 04 app and YouTube), with new head coach Carles Martínez leading his first training session as part of the Bayer 04 set-up. His coaching team comprises a mix of new and long-standing colleagues.
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