The match against the Spanish top-flight side is part of the 'Trofeo Naranja', a summer cup tournament at FC Valencia since 1959. The friendly will be played at the Estadi de Mestalla, home to the UEFA Cup winners of 2004. Following on from Bayern Munich (1972), Borussia Mönchengladbach (1977, 1979), FC Kaiserslautern (1982), Hamburg SV (1984) and Werder Bremen (1993), Bayer 04 will be the sixth German club to play in the (47th) 'Orange Cup' one year before the Spanish clubs 100th anniversary.
Last season, Valencia ended up fourth in the Primera Division behind Barcelona, Atletico and Real Madrid and are qualified for next season's Champions League. That competition is the only time the Werkself have played the finalists from 2000 and 2001 when the two sides met in the group stage in the 2010/11 campaign. The first leg in Valencia ended in a 3-1 defeat but the Werkself under coach Robin Dutt secured a 2-1 win in the return leg at the BayArena with goals from André Schürrle and Sidney Sam).
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 working 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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Bayer 04 host top French club Marseille at the BayArena on matchday four in the 2026/27 UEFA Europa League group stage. The match kicks off on Thursday 5 November at 21:00 CET. The latest information on ticket sales.
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The BAYER 04 HILFT Day is celebrating an anniversary: for the tenth year running, a large number of employees of the Bundesliga club have been getting involved in a community project in Leverkusen and the surrounding area. Following the refurbishment of the city library last year, this time around some 70 staff members rolled up their sleeves to help out at the Bunker Youth Centre in Leverkusen-Wiesdorf. With the support of the Lebenshilfe workshops in Leverkusen and partner Coca-Cola, a rubber football pitch was laid, a Bayer 04-style lounge was created and other projects were carried out. Werkself players and coaching staff also gave their all.
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen and sponsors club partner NRG24 are continuing their partnership, which has been in place since the summer of 2023. The Bundesliga football club and the energy consultancy firm have extended their successful partnership until 30 June 2027.
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