In 2024, Granit Xhaka with Bayer 04 celebrated winning the first German league title in the club's history as well as the DFB Pokal and the Supercup. The midfield maestro also impressed with Switzerland at Euro 2024 and again reached the quarter-finals as in the previous European Championship finals. The captain of the national side was voted Man of the Match in the first and third group matches and now has 135 international caps. Granit Xhaka was also the first Swiss player since 1996 to be nominated for the Ballon d'Or last year and he ended up in sixteenth place. Last week, the 32-year-old was voted MVP 2024, the most valuable player of the year, at the Swiss sport gala Sports Awards 2024.
Xhaka, connected online to the Swiss Football Night in Bern, said of his award: "It wasn't just my year. It was our year, with a great Euros. It was outstanding to win the trophies with the club but also celebrate the successes with the national team. I'd like to thank everybody once again. Above all, Murat Yakin (Switzerland head coach, ed.) who supported me both in training as well as privately.
Information on voting process in German is available HERE.
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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Sustainability once again had many faces at Bayer 04 in 2025: In community activity, the club supported countless regional campaigns, including the Leverkusener Tafel, the Frauenennotruf Leverkusen e.V. and the homeless aid organisation "Kältegang". But the Black and Reds have also been involved in good causes around the world - including the Young Coaches training programmes in Uganda and Ecuador plus the Genuine World Cup in the USA, where the Inclusion Werkself competed. Bayer 04 was also fully committed to the environment and underwent external and independently certification in accordance with the European environmental management standard EMAS, for example, to analyse and optimise the club’s environmental efforts. Looking back at sustainability in 2025.
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Two Saturdays, one Friday and one Sunday: The dates for the Bayer 04 Women's team games on matchdays 16 to 19 have been finalised. Three of the four matches scheduled by the German Football Association (DFB) on Tuesday will be played at home at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium.
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Bayer 04 currently have a number of promising young talents on loan to various clubs in Europe with the aim of gaining match practice and furthering their individual development. Francis Onyeka and Farid Alfa-Ruprecht, for example, play for VfL Bochum 1848, while Artem Stepanov is a striker with 1. FC Nürnberg, coached by World Cup winner Miroslav Klose. Tim Oermann is a defender in the Austrian Bundesliga at top club SK Sturm Graz and Abdoulaye Faye is playing in France for FC Lorient, promoted to Ligue 1 this season. Bayer04.de reviews the first six months for the Leverkusen players out on loan.
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