
In addition, there is again a colourful collection of reports, images and other interesting stories from the Black and Red world of football. The recently crowned Argentinian World Cup winner Exequiel Palacios is obviously included as is Florian Wirtz, whose comeback after a long time on the sidelines is a reason to celebrate and not just for Bayer 04 fans. “The return of the ‘improver’” is the headline of the story about the 19-year-old who voluntarily provides an insight into his frame of mind during the often difficult months in rehab. Other subjects covered include the forthcoming Europa League tie with AS Monaco and the Werkself USA tour to St. Louis.
There is also some interesting reading matter away from the first team. Ken Izekor is already a prolific goalscorer with the Bayer 04 U17 team at the age of 15 and he could feature for the U19s in the UEFA Youth League. Friederike Repohl, the Bayer 04 Women’s team keeper, looks back at her biggest game and recalls some great saves in the penalty shoot-out to win the DFB Cup in 2020.
A profile of the Leverkusen club SV Schlebusch, one of the three winners of the volunteering award, completes the magazine along with a very unusual international fan community for whom no way is too far in following the Werkself. And, on top of that, the reader also has a deeper insight into the demanding work of a reporter for the visually impaired at Bayer 04. The Werkself magazine number 40 – full of exclusive Black and Red content.

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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Bayer 04 face Hamburger SV for the first time in almost eight years. Although the Hanseatic city team are often below par on the road, they are regularly in top form in front of their own fans. In particular, 18-year-old shooting star Luka Vuskovic is proving to be a real bonus for Merlin Polzin's team, both in attack and defence. However, that should not scare the Werkself: Not only was the last defeat against the newly promoted team 17 games ago, but Kasper Hjulmand's players are in with a chance of securing their fifth win in six games against HSV. Today’s matchday news.
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Hamburger SV and Bayer 04 meet again in the Bundesliga for the first time in almost eight years. This Tuesday evening, 13 January (kick-off: 20:30 CET), the promoted team with impressive home form welcome the Werkself to the Volksparkstadion to round off the Hinrunde. The lowdown on our next opponents.
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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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