The following first team players are on board: Lukas Hradecky, Jonathan Tah, Odilon Kossounou, Jonas Hofmann, Robert Andrich, Sardar Azmoun, Kerem Demirbay, Nadiem Amiri, Edmond Tapsoba, Arthur, Patrik Schick, Noah Mbamba, Alejandro Grimaldo, Amine Adli, Victor Boniface, Adam Hlozek, Timothy Fosu-Mensah, Exequiel Palacios, Florian Wirtz, Patrick Pentz, Jeremie Frimpong, Gustavo Puerta, Granit Xhaka, Niklas Lomb and Ayman Aourir. Piero Hincapie is not travelling as the Ecuador international is set to continue his rehab following his fractured metatarsal in the middle of June.
From the club's youth teams, goalkeeper Oleksandr Petrenko, Madi Monamay, Matija Marsenic, Anton Bäuerle (all U19s) and U17 keeper Jesper Schlich will join the senior squad.
The Bayer 04 team will travel from Austria to Northern Spain on Friday with a friendly the following day in San Sebastian kicking off at 18.00 CEST. The match against the Champions League side Real Sociedad is for a good cause in aid of the ’Fundación Columbus’.
The European jersey has been launched, the UEL opponents have been drawn – and anticipation for the European campaign is running high. To mark the occasion, an autograph session was held on Friday afternoon, 28 August, at the Fanwelt with current Werkself player Montrell Culbreath and official club legend Paulo Sergio.
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On Friday afternoon, it will be decided which eight of the 36 participating teams Bayer 04 will face in the group stage of the UEFA Europa League in 2026/27. At the draw in Monaco (live on UEFA.com), the Werkself will be drawn against two teams from each of the four pots, allocated according to the UEFA club coefficient. A match against an opponent from the same country is ruled out, as is facing more than two clubs from the same national association. Here’s a look at the pots and potential opponents.
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After six and a half years, Exequiel Palacios is leaving the Bundesliga and moving from Bayer 04 to the Premier League. The Argentine, who as a Werkself player won the World Cup with his national team four years ago and finished as runners-up at this summer’s tournament, will play for newly promoted English side Ipswich Town with immediate effect. The 27-year-old, whose contract in Leverkusen was due to run until 30 June 2030, joined Bayer 04 in January 2020 as a promising young talent. He steadily developed into one of the best defensive midfielders in the German top flight.
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When Exequiel Palacios moved from the Argentinian club River Plate to Bayer Leverkusen on 1 January 2020, the then 21-year-old could not have imagined just how successful the next six and a half years would be for him. Pala, as he is known, had already won the Copa Libertadores – the most prestigious competition in South American club football – with River Plate. But there were still so many more trophies to come.
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