
There were 16 outfield players and three goalkeepers on the training ground. Missing were the four players at the World Cup, Jeremie Frimpong, Exequiel Palacios, Piero Hincapie and Sardar Azmoun plus Patrik Schick who trained on his own. Timothy Fosu-Mensah and Joshua Eze were also sidelined due to muscle problems, Callum Hudson-Odoi was away for private reasons.






The one-hour session in the morning primarily focused on passing drills. That was followed in the afternoon by a second stamina and fitness session at the BayArena with Florian Wirtz and Co. also putting in a decent shift.





Xabi Alonso will be leading his players in the next session on the training ground tomorrow (Saturday 3 December). It starts at 11.00 CET in the shadow of the BayArena. Lukas Hradecky and Co. will then be playing host to a visit: 14 children, in association with UNICEF, will have the opportunity to get hold of autographs and take lots of photos with the Werkself players. The skipper Lukas Hradecky and Joshua Eze will also be at the Löwenclub Christmas party on Sunday 4 December.

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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