The Werkself take on Udinese four days after the goalless friendly against Greek Cup winners Panathinaikos. The club from the north-east of Italy finished twelfth in the league table last term and they have been members of Serie A since the 1950s.
Udinese brought in Andrea Sottil as the new head coach for the start of the new season. The 48-year-old Italian was previously at second division club Ascoli. As a player, Sottil made 250 top-flight appearances in Italy and he won the domestic cup competition in 1993 with Torino and three years later with Fiorentina.
The squad of the club founded in 1896 has five players who previously played in Germany: Central defender Jaka Bijol and holding midfielder Walace were at Hannover 96 and the latter also played for Hamburg SV. Mato Jajalo played for FC Köln, Tolgay Arslan was a youth player at Borussia Dortmund and at HSV, Lazar Samardzic was in the youth teams at Hertha Berlin and RB Leipzig. The quintet clocked up a total of 270 Bundesliga appearances as well as 90 games in Bundesliga 2.
Probably the best known players internationally are Roberto Pereyra and Gerard Deulofeu. The Argentinian playmaker Pereyra played for Italian record champions Juventus for many years and also for Watford in the Premier League, centre-forward Deulofeu won La Liga twice with Barcelona and the Europa League with Sevilla.
Like the Werkself, Udinese have played several pre-season friendlies. An 11-0 victory at Rapid Lienz (Austria) was followed by a 3-3 draw against Leverkusen Bundesliga rivals Union Berlin. For the Italians, experience striker Ilija Nestorovski netted a brace and defender Filip Benkovic also found the back of the net.
After a 3-0 win against Slovenian second division club Ilirija comes the game against Bayer 04 and that is followed by a meeting with Chelsea, including Werkself home-grown player Kai Havertz, next Friday to round off the pre-season for the North Italians.
Bayer 04 have the chance to reach the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League for the third time ever and the first in 14 years at Arsenal on Tuesday night (kick-off 21:00 CEST/20:00 local time). To do that, the Werkself not only require a strong performance like in the first leg, but also full concentration until the very last minute, as the Premier League leaders like to score late - as they did at the BayArena last week. Here's the Matchday News.
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A special award for special social commitment. At this year's ceremony for the Sepp Herberger Awards in Wolfsburg on Monday night, the DFB Sepp Herberger Foundation recognised Bayer 04 in the social rehabilitation category. The Bundesliga club received the prize, together with €12,000, for its great service to inmates, particularly in the Wuppertal-Ronsdorf prison.
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Can Bayer 04 pull off a coup in London? Just over a week after the 1-1 draw in the first leg of the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League round of 16 tie, the Werkself are now looking to put in a convincing performance away at Arsenal – and get a result to secure a place in the quarter-finals. Ahead of the match on Tuesday, (kick-off: 21:00 CET), head coach Kasper Hjulmand shared his thoughts on the team’s hunger for success. Exequiel Palacios, meanwhile, spoke about the importance of the fixture and the team’s development over the past few months.
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In their last two matches, they’ve done exactly what 'Laterkusen' did in the 2023/24 double-winning season: late on, but not too late, the Gunners scored crucial goals – first in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League round of 16 at Bayer 04, then last weekend in the Premier League against Everton. This Tuesday, 17 March (kick-off: 21:00 CET), Arsenal host the Werkself in London. The latest on our opponents.
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Werkself-TV shows the highlights of the Bayer 04 women's 1-2 loss at VfL Wolfsburg on the 20th matchday of the Google Pixel Frauen-Bundesliga 2025/26.
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