
In addition to the games against lower league clubs like the two recent matches against SC Verl (1-1) and Delbrücker SC (4-0) plus Friday’s friendly at TuS Koblenz (18.30 CET) and the benefit match on 9 August away to Offenbacher Kickers, Roger Schmidt’s players will also be able to get match practice against quality European opposition. Both FC Porto, who Bayer 04 meet at the Belkaw Arena in Bergisch Gladbach on Wednesday 27 July at 18.00 CET, and Real Sociedad from San Sebastian, opponents for the season launch at the BayArena on Saturday 13 August, are also top European clubs like Fiorentina. The Lilies from Tuscany finished fifth in Serie A last term and are in the Europa League in the coming campaign. The two-time Italian champions are coached by the Portuguese manager Paulo Sousa who was at Borussia Dortmund as a player.

Four Bayer 04 players are in action at the 35th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations being played in Morocco from 21 December to 18 January 2026: Eliesse Ben Seghir for the hosts, Edmond Tapsoba with Burkina Faso, Ibrahim Maza for Algeria and Christian Kofane with Cameroon. Updates on the AFCON matches involving Werkself players...
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After being nominated for the Bundesliga Goal of the Year 2025, Martin Terrier's wonderful strike for the opener against FC Köln is now also up for selection for the ARD Sportschau Goal of the Month award for December 2025. Bayer 04 fans have until 19:00 CET on 10 January to vote for the French forward.
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After a break of almost two weeks, the Bayer 04 Women begin preparing for games in 2026 on Sunday. Bayer04.de provides an overview of the dates at the start of the second half of the season.
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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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