
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 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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