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 Werkself welcome FC Augsburg to the BayArena on Bundesliga matchday 30 in the 2025/26 season. The match on Saturday, 18 April kicks off at 15:30 CEST. Bayer 04 have organised a family matchday with exclusive offers for parents and children. Information on ticket sales.
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The Werkself host VfL Wolfsburg at the BayArena on matchday 28 in the 2025/26 Bundesliga season. The match is on Saturday, 4 April, with the kick-off at 15:30 CET. Information on ticket sales.
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The exact timings for the 2025/26 DFB Pokal semi-finals have been finalised. Bayer 04's home tie against Bayern Munich will be played on Wednesday, 22 April, at 20:45 CEST. This was announced by the German Football Association (DFB) this Monday morning.
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It was the end of the road for the #B04eSports team against SC Freiburg. Marc and Sean Landwehr were narrowly defeated by the top favourites in the quarter-finals of the VBL Club Championship Final 2025/26. After a success in the first 1v1 game (4-2) and a subsequent defeat (0-4), the overall goals tally ultimately decided who progressed to the semi-finals in the clash against the league leaders from the previous phase.
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