
Bayer 04 will be based in Austria from 14 to 22 July – in cooperation with the tourism partner SalzburgerLand, the Werkself will again stay at the Hotel Tauern Spa in Kaprun and complete their training sessions at the Alois Latini Stadium, home to FC Zell am See.
Lukas Hradecky, Patrik Schick & Co. will play Panathinaikos on Sunday 17 July (kick-off: 17.00 CEST) at the pitch in close proximity to the lake Zeller See. The club from the Greek capital have won the league title 20 times and last season the team under coach Ivan Jovanovic lifted the national cup and finished the season top of the Super League. This will not be the first meeting for Bayer 04 with the top Greek club. Panathinaikos and the Werkself faced each other in the Round of 16 in the European Cup Winners Cup in the 1993/94 season. Bayer 04 progressed to the next round with a 4-1 win after losing 2-1 in the first leg.
The Werkself have also played competitive matches against Udinese, the second opponents at the training camp – and that was four times within just 15 months in the UEFA Cup: Bayer 04 progressed through the first round against Italian club in 1998/1999 (1-1, 1-0) with Udinese coming out on top in the third round in the following season (1-0, 1-2). The team including former Bundesliga player Tolgay Arslan (including Hamburg SV) finished twelfth in Italy's top flight last season. The friendly will be played on Thursday 21 June (kick-off: 17.00 CEST), also at the Alois Latini Stadium.
The first match in the preseason ahead of the 2022/23 campaign will be five days before heading off to Austria. Bayer 04 will play third division MSV Duisburg in Velbert on Saturday 9 July. The kick-off will be at 15.30 CEST and information on ticket sales for the match at the IMS Arena HERE.
All Werkself friendlies will be broadcast live on the Bayer 04 YouTube channel.

Video game developer Electronic Arts (EA), in collaboration with the Bundesliga, has announced the six nominees for the Bundesliga Player of the Month award for October 2026 – and Bayer 04’s Ibrahim Maza is among them. Fans of the Black and Reds can vote from now until Sunday 8 November (23:59 CET).
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On Tuesday night, the Leverkusen e-sports team played the first three of their six group stage matches in the second round of the 2026/27 VBL Club Championship. They were unable to secure more than a draw in either of their matches against FC Augsburg and VfB Stuttgart. The match against Bayern Munich ended in defeat.
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Once again, several Werkself players are set to represent their respective national teams during the final international break of the calendar year. Here is an overview of the Leverkusen players called up for international duty and the match dates. This will be updated regularly.
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The Bundesliga has announced the nominees for the ‘Top Goal of the Month’ award for October. Fans of the Werkself can now vote for, amongst others, Robert Andrich’s stunning volley from the match against Mainz 05 or Moussa Diaby’s curling shot into the top corner from the same fixture. Voting, exclusively on the Bundesliga app, remains open until Sunday, 8 November (23:59 CET).
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