The warm-up started with a game of catch where the quarry can save themselves by hitching a piggyback from another Werkself pro; Peter Bosz and his fellow coaches then split the squad up into smaller groups for rondos. Attention then turned to detailed work: The dribbling skills of the pros were in demand on a slalom course. Finally, the intensity of the session was upped even more with shooting practice and a practice match.
Sven Bender, Karim Bellarabi and Daley Sinkgraven returned to full training today after all three worked on their own in the Monday session. Lars Bender was today on a neighbouring pitch. The skipper completed a separate fitness session without the ball – as did Tin Jedvaj due to slight back problems, albeit he was at the BayArena. The Croat is expected to return to full training on Thursday.
The Werkself have 04 days before the first competitive game of the season in Aachen. "It won't be easy. Our opponents have already played several games and are up and running. If we want to win then we have to deliver 100 per cent," said Sven Bender, putting aside the results of the recent friendlies; "They were poor results – there’s no question about that. But it counts from now on! We've had six weeks of pre-season and that should be enough!"
Kevin Volland believes he and his team-mates are well prepared for the challenge in Aachen: "We've made further progress over the last two weeks. Our fitness is better and the freshness is there – we’ll be in good shape by the time of the cup game," said the confident 27-year-old. "We have to communicate a bit better on the pitch and help each other out. But we are all very focused and we definitely want to get off to a good start."
The Werkself had an appointment in the press conference room at the BayArena after lunch: Referee Dr Robert Kampka delivered a lecture. The referee introduced the rule changes for the 2019/20 season. Centre stage was the modification to the handball rule.
UEFA also paid a visit. The European body sent representatives to the BayArena ahead of the forthcoming Champions League matches to take a closer look at the facilities, the technical infrastructure as well as the areas of hospitality and ticketing to ensure the matchdays run without any problems. There was very positive feedback: The BayArena and Bayer 04 are completely prepared for the Champions League.
Two Saturdays, one Friday and one Sunday: The dates for the Bayer 04 Women's team games on matchdays 16 to 19 have been finalised. Three of the four matches scheduled by the German Football Association (DFB) on Tuesday will be played at home at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium.
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Despite a courageous display, the Bayer 04 Women missed out on a surprise at the start of the second half of the Bundesliga season. Coach Roberto Pätzold's team lost 3-0 to league leaders Bayern Munich on Monday night. An early goal from the clinical visitors, a disputed penalty and another spot-kick prevented Leverkusen, who are seventh in the table on 22 points from 14 games, from picking up a point in front of 3,011 spectators at the sold-out Ulrich Haberland Stadium.
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The Werkself rang in the Black and Red festive season with an emotional visit to Klinikum Leverkusen. Kristin Kögel, Melissa Friedrich and Louisa Remien from the Bayer 04 Women's team and Jonas Hofmann, Janis Blaswich and Niklas Lomb from the first team visited the young patients on the children's ward and, for the first time, on the ‘Zeitinsel’ children's palliative care unit. They brought a host of lovingly wrapped presents ensuring a big surprise for young and old alike.
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Four Bayer 04 players are in action at the 35th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations being played in Morocco from 21 December to 18 January 2026: Eliesse Ben Seghir for the hosts, Edmond Tapsoba with Burkina Faso, Ibrahim Maza for Algeria and Christian Kofane with Cameroon. Updates on the AFCON matches involving Werkself players...
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