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.
Video games manufacturer Electronic Arts (EA), together with the German Football League (DFL), has announced the six nominees for the Bundesliga Player of the Month award for October - including Werkself player Alejandro Grimaldo. Black and Red fans can vote from now until Sunday, 2 November (23:59 CET).
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A Leverkusen player is a step closer to winning the UEFA Women's Nations League tournament after the semi-finals, and another Werkself player secured her nation's place in League A. A trio also impressed for the German U23s, while another made her debut for the U19s. Read on for updates on the most recent international appearances of the six members of the Bayer 04 Women’s first team squad.
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90 football-loving girls and special support in autumnal weather: The third Bayer 04 Women’s team junior talent day was a hive of activity at the Kurtekotten Performance Centre on Sunday, 26 October. Under the watchful eyes of Sofie Zdebel and Charlotte Voll, talented youngsters born between 2010 and 2017 showed off their skills on the ball - and received valuable tips from the professionals.
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen will have to manage without midfielder Ezequiel Fernández for the next few games. The Argentinian suffered a ligament injury in his left knee during the Bundesliga match against SC Freiburg (2-0) on Sunday 26 October.
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"We left everything on the pitch and fought every minute. It's all the nicer to be rewarded for that in the end and to celebrate a title!" declared Marc Landwehr after the end of a thrilling final against RB Leipzig. The #B04eSports team won the final of this first showdown of the new VBL Club Championship season against the current champions in two high-scoring duels. They had previously defeated SC Paderborn 07, the 2023/24 double winners, in the semi-finals.
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