
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 have agreed a loan move for U19s striker Ken Izekor to join Bundesliga 2 club Eintracht Braunschweig on loan for the rest of the 2025/26 season.
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Bayer 04 have agreed a loan deal for Jeanuel Belocian to join fellow Bundesliga club Wolfsburg on loan until the end of the season. The 20-year-old defender’s contract in Leverkusen runs until 30 June 2029.
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SAB-P GmbH is to become Bayer 04 Leverkusen's first official inclusion partner. The company, which has previously been involved in the club's Business Club, is underlining its social commitment to inclusion with an agreement that runs until 31 May 2027. Among other things, it will be the shirt sponsor of the Inclusion Team from the 2026/27 season onwards.
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The Werkself were impressive in the 3-1 win against Eintracht Frankfurt with clinical finishing and a first half "at a high level" that head coach Kasper Hjulmand draws a lot of positives from. The same should apply to Arthur, who scored for the first time in the Bundesliga. Edmond Tapsoba, for his part, was happy about his 250th appearance in a Bayer 04 jersey. "I think we're slowly finding our feet again," said goalscorer Malik Tillman, summing up the performance. The Werkself review.
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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 personalised 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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