The in part highly intensive tests such of spirogeometry did nothing to spoil the good mood. The first group of Werkself players including Jonathan Tah and Nadiem Amiri arrived at the Werkstatt, the Bayer 04 rehab and training centre at the BayArena, on Monday morning. They all completed a range of medical tests as well as coordination, mobility and stability checks.
Alejandro Grimaldo, Arthur and Gustavo Puerta also came to the BayArena over the course of Monday morning. The new signings were clearly happy and full of determination. The rest of the players including Jeremie Frimpong and young player Noah Mbamba arrived in the afternoon. Robert Andrich was also with the group. The 28-year-old midfielder has been working on his comeback after a metatarsal fracture in his left foot in the Werkstatt for the last couple of weeks.
The players recently on international duty were missing including goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky
Head coach Xabi Alonso will hold his first training session on Tuesday morning. The open session begins at 10.00 CEST.
The sessions on Wednesday (10.00 CEST), Thursday (10.30 CEST) and Friday (10.00 CEST) are also open to fans of the Black and Reds subject to late changes.
Strengthening the Bayer 04 Leverkusen youth teams: Konstantinos Kotsifakis will join the Werkself from Bundesliga 2 club Hertha Berlin for the 2026/27 season, where he will be a permanent member of the Leverkusen U19 coaching set-up. The German-Greek will also take on an operational role in coaching the Bayer 04 Future Team. The 29-year-old was most recently head coach of the U17s at Hertha Berlin.
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Another award for the Bayer 04 head groundsman and staff: After coming top in the 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2024/25 seasons, the BayArena pitch came second in the Bundesliga Pitch of the Year ranking for the 2025/26 season. VfL Wolfsburg secured the top spot this year, with TSG Hoffenheim in third place.
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Opening opponents, derby weekends, the opponents in the season finale: This information and more will be available to Bayer 04 fans on Thursday, 2 July, when the 2026/27 Bundesliga fixture list is published.
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Rüdiger Vollborn has been at the club for 40 years, he holds the record number of Bundesliga appearances for the club (401) and is the only Bayer 04 player to have won both the UEFA Cup (1988) and the DFB Pokal (1993). And the Berliner stayed with the Werkself after ending his impressive playing career as he worked as a goalkeeping coach for the following nine years. Vollborn now works under the Bayer Cross as a fan liaison officer and club archivist. Since February 2021, the personal Black and Red lexicon takes Werkself fans under the heading of 'Rudi recounts...' on a brief trip through the history of Bayer 04 every month…
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