Peter Bosz appears first on TV late on Saturday evening. From 23.00 CET, Sven Voss presents the 90-minute broadcast and he will talk to the Dutchman about the impressive points haul for the Werkself in the season to date. The ZDF broadcast is live on TV and streamed on zdf.de and the episode will then be available from the ZDFmediathek.
Rudi Völler is a guest on Doppelpass on Sunday morning. In the first episode of the New Year, presenter Thomas Helmer will talk to the 60-year-old sporting managing director from Leverkusen and former player Sandro Wagner. Also on the show are Sport1 pundit Stefan Effenberg, journalist Florian Wichert (t-online.de) plus Mounir Zitouni. The latter was a professional footballer and he played for Völler’s former club Kickers Offenbach from 2001 to 2003.
The Sport1 broadcast starts at 11.00 CET on TV and will also be streamed on sport1.de. Doppelpass is then also available on catch up at sport1.de.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen have appointed Carles Martínez Novell as the new head coach. The 42-year-old Spaniard worked for FC Toulouse in the French Ligue 1 until the end of the season. Martínez finished last term in ninth place with the club from the south of France. He will take over the Werkself on 1 July 2026 and has signed a contract to 30 June 2028. Martínez, whose contract with Toulouse expires at the end of the month, succeeds Kasper Hjulmand at Leverkusen, who is leaving the club after one season.
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Welcome to Leverkusen, Carles Martínez Novell. Bayer 04 have appointed the 42-year-old Spaniard as the new head coach on a contract to 2028. Martínez most recently worked for FC Toulouse in the French Ligue 1 until the end of the season. He previously spent four years at Barcelona's legendary academy La Masia in his home city. Bayer04.de introduces Martínez in more detail.
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Bayer 04 plans for the 2026/27 pre-season continue to take shape. The Werkself will kick off the new season in mid-July with the return to the training ground. The highlight will be the official season opener on 8 August at the BayArena, including a friendly against La Liga club Sevilla. Friendlies in Germany will take the team to neighbouring Monheim, Offenbach and Jena.
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Strengthening the Bayer 04 Leverkusen youth teams: Konstantinos Kotsifakis will join the Werkself from Bundesliga 2 club Hertha Berlin for the 2026/27 season, where he will be a permanent member of the Leverkusen U19 coaching set-up. The German-Greek will also take on an operational role in coaching the Bayer 04 Future Team. The 29-year-old was most recently head coach of the U17s at Hertha Berlin.
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Another award for the Bayer 04 head groundsman and staff: After coming top in the 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2024/25 seasons, the BayArena pitch came second in the Bundesliga Pitch of the Year ranking for the 2025/26 season. VfL Wolfsburg secured the top spot this year, with TSG Hoffenheim in third place.
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