There was a change of personnel at the hosts at the start of the season: The club management at Mainz opted to change coaches after the second Bundesliga matchday. Achim Beierlorzer had to go after two defeats in the opening games and assistant coach Jan-Moritz Lichte took over the helm at Mainz 05. The former Werkself assistant coach under Sascha Lewandowski and Sami Hyypiä is looking to get the team back to winning ways – his opposite number Bosz obviously has something to say about that. Mainz have a lot of quality in their squad. It’s down to us to see that it takes another week before that is evident on the pitch,” the Dutchman declared.
In addition to Paulinho, who continues his rehab training following his torn cruciate, Bosz will have to manage without other players following the international break: Summer signing Santiago Arias suffered a broken leg and complex ligament damage to his ankle in a World Cup qualifier with Colombia and is set to be out of action for around six months.
The 56-year-old will also be without the services of Patrik Schick, who is struggling with a muscle injury. With Florian Wirtz, who was substituted in the middle of the first half of the Euro qualifier for the Germany U21s against Bosnia-Herzegovina, there is no evidence of a structural injury to his stomach muscles. The 17-year-old is already on the road to recovery. “But he probably won’t be available for us against Mainz,” said Bosz
In addition, Tin Jedvaj will also most probably have to miss out. The defender was not in the squad for Croatia’s 2-1 defeat against France on Wednesday night due to illness. The results of a coronavirus test proved to be negative and Jedvaj is now feeling better again.
In accordance with the regulations, the players returning from international duty undertook coronavirus tests at the BayArena on Thursday morning. Another round of tests will be performed on Friday morning. If the results are negative then the players can then take part in training and join the Bayer 04 group to travel to Mainz to hopefully play on Saturday and help secure the sixth Bundesliga win in succession against Mainz 05.
Match information:
Broadcasters: Sky and Werks11 Radio (bayer04.de)
Referee: The match officials will be announced on the day the game
Attendance: 250
Once again, well over 100 Werkself fans were delighted to receive an invitation from the club’s record appearance-maker, Rüdiger Vollborn, to the sold-out Schwadbud at the BayArena. This time, the supporters listened as the club historian provided fascinating, exclusive insights into the period from Bayer 04 being founded in 1904 to the club’s promotion to the Bundesliga in 1979. A journey through time is also planned for the upcoming ‘Rudi lädt ein’ event in early November – this time focusing on the years of the Nazi regime.
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Happy children’s faces at the SSV Lützenkirchen training ground: For the 25th time, the Birkenberg soccer school – organised by SportBund Leverkusen – offered participating youngsters an exciting holiday activity. Meeting a Bayer 04 player has now become a cherished tradition. This time, Ibrahim Maza visited the 150 children and spoke to them about his World Cup experiences, amongst other things. “It’s always lovely to see the children’s enthusiasm for football,” said the 20-year-old, after bringing a sparkle to many eyes with selfies and autographs.
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One day after the successful DFB Pokal first round tie at SV Wehen Wiesbaden (4–0), the mood was understandably really good: Over 400 Bayer 04 supporters gathered on Sunday, 23 August, for the annual fan club meet-up at the BayArena and got in the mood for the new season through direct and informal discussions with Bayer 04 management, head coach Carles Martínez and Werkself players.
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Werkself-TV shows the highlights of the Bayer 04 women's 2-0 win at RB Leipzig on the 1st matchday of the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga 2026/27.
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