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.
The Sports Tribunal of the German Football Association (DFB) has fined Bayer 04 Leverkusen €185,000 for spectators setting off pyrotechnic devices during a total of five competitive matches. This relates to four Bundesliga matches and the DFB Pokal semi-final against Bayern Munich. The highest individual fine relates to the away match at FC Köln at the end of April.
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen have extended the contract with U19 goalkeeper Simeon Rapsch. The Germany youth international goalkeeper has signed a long-term contract with the Werkself running to 30 June 2029. The 18-year-old joined Leverkusen from FC Viktoria Köln in the summer of 2024.
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Ken Izekor is leaving Bayer 04 Leverkusen to join third-tier side Alemannia Aachen with immediate effect. The 19-year-old centre-forward joined the club from Alemannia in 2018, and Izekor is now returning to his hometown.
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The Golden Boy Top 100 traditionally lists Europe’s most promising young players. In the latest update, published to mark the start of the new season, four current Werkself players – alongside loanee Francis Onyeka – feature on the list. This means Bayer 04 have the most players in contention of any Bundesliga club.
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