Fernando Carro, Bayer 04 CEO, plus head coach Gerardo Seoane and captain Lukas Hradecky first listened to friendly words from the hosts on the third deck of the MS Schmitten: Yvonne Rosenstatter (Area director in marketing management at SalzburgerLand) and Renate Ecker (Director of tourism, Zell am See-Kaprun) were proud of another visit from the Champions League participants.
"Salzburger Land provides outstanding conditions for different sports – including football," said Rosenstatter. "We are therefore very proud of the active and familiar partnership with Bayer 04 that is already ten years old." Ecker also highlighted the "solid partnership, with the Werkself and spoke about "meeting up as friends."
"It's clear that it's really great to be here under these circumstances," added Fernando Carro against the mountain backdrop around Zeller See. "The coaching staff know the local area and facilities well from last year. That was a big advantage in our advanced planning."
And head coach Gerardo Seoane also looked very impressed with the facilities. The Swiss coach not only praised the training set-up at the Alois Latini Stadium and the accommodation – the Hotel Tauern Spa – but also the wide range of options in the area. The Werkself have taken part in a bike tour, played beach volleyball, tried out stand-up paddle boarding on Zeller See. And the culinary delights of Austrian cuisine were discovered with an evening meal at a restaurant in Zell am See-Kaprun. "This training camp gives us the opportunity to get to know each other as a group in a completely different way," said Seoane. "That strengthens team spirit in the long run."
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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