"For us, visiting the children here in the Leverkusen hospital has become a tradition and absolutely a matter of the heart," said Lukas Hradecky on site. "Unfortunately, it's not possible to spend time with them this year. We hope we will have the opportunity for that next year." Due to the respiratory disease RSV (Respiratory syncytial virus) the children's hospital in Leverkusen asked in advance for the visit to be shortened and held outside the children's ward.
Lukas Hradecky, who thanked the doctors and care staff for their work during his visit, therefore gave the presents for the children to Dr Frank Meier, senior physician at the children's clinic at the Leverkusen hospital, and his team. The nurses distributed the gifts of toys and clothing to the children on the ward – and together with Bayer 04 were able to provide some joy in the time before Christmas.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen will have to manage without centre-back Edmond Tapsoba in the coming weeks. The Burkina Faso international returned to the Werkself from the Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco with a muscle injury.
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The Werkself are away to Hamburg SV at the end of the Hinrunde in the 2025/26 Bundesliga campaign. The match at the newly promoted club is on Tuesday night, 13 January (kick-off: 20:30 CET). Ahead of the first encounter with HSV since 2018, Kasper Hjulmand spoke about the strengths of the opponents, lessons learnt from the home defeat against VfB Stuttgart and provided a squad update.
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In Germany, the temperatures are currently around zero, leaving even professional footballers freezing - but not the Bayer 04 Women. Roberto Pätzold's team have fled the cold to the south and are preparing for the second half of the season at a training camp in the Algarve, almost 2,000 kilometres away from home as the crow flies. The Leverkusen squad landed in Faro on Saturday morning and have already completed the first three training sessions over the weekend.
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It was a disappointing Saturday night. The Werkself lost 4-1 to VfB Stuttgart to start the new year on Bundesliga matchday 16 in 2025/26, a result that left both players and fans disappointed. "We played without any passion," said Alejandro Grimaldo honestly afterwards. Teammate Jarell Quansah was even more self-critical, emphasising: "We were miles off it in the first half. You can't put in a performance like that, especially in front of our own fans and I can only apologise to them, to be honest." Read on for the reaction, facts and stats from the clash with VfB Stuttgart in the Werkself review.
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