Until Sunday’s departure for North Germany, the Werkself are commuting in two coaches between the training ground on Bismarckstraße and the hotel where they eating and being looked after, holding meetings and also spending their leisure time. “In this crisis there are people facing difficult challenges. Complaining and having fun always have their place in a football team. But it’s going well and we’ll easily get through this week,” explained Hradecky in an online media interview after today’s trading session.
The Finn prefers to concentrate on the forthcoming restart in Germany’s top flight. The level in the sessions is already very high in spite of the many weeks without full training sessions. “You can feel everybody’s excitement. We’re in a good position in the table and want to take that momentum into the rest of the season,” said the 30-year-old who highlighted the necessary increased communication on the pitch. “It was an important issue for us before the games were suspended and is not even more significant with the quiet of the stadiums with games played behind closed doors.”
The 1.92 metre giant does not yet know what sort of atmosphere awaits him and his teammates. The away game at Bremen’s Wohninvest Weserstadion will be the first match behind closed doors in Hradecky’s career to date. “Of course, we would prefer to play in front of fans. But, on Monday, it might be a slight advantage for us that Bremen won’t be playing in front of a full house at home,” explained the number one keeper who is hoping for more luck on the pitch for the Black and Reds compared with the game earlier in the season.

In the 2-2 draw at the end of October in front of a sold-out BayArena, Hradecky had to pick the ball out of his net twice from deflected shots from Milot Rashica (40’) and Davy Klaassen (48’). “That match was probably during our poorest phase of this season,” said the Finn. For the match in Bremen, he is hoping Werder feel “a bit more pressure” given their current position in the table – Bremen are 17th at the moment. Hradecky was however unable to make a prediction of whether favourites or underdogs would have more wins in games behind closed doors.
The Werkself keeper is in positive mood ahead of restarting the season with his team on Monday and rounding off matchday 26: “We will watch everything on TV at the hotel at the weekend. And after the games, I’ll definitely ask my former teammates at Frankfurt how it was so we’re prepared.”


Werkself-TV shows the highlights of the Bayer 04 women's 1-2 loss against VfL Wolfsburg on the 2nd matchday of the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga 2026/27.
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Bayer 04’s eight opponents in the group stage of the 2026/27 UEFA Europa League have been confirmed. At the draw on Friday 28 August held at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco, the Werkself were drawn against two opponents from each of the four pots. There are a total of four home and four away matches. Read on for details of opponents and fixture dates.
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In the 3-2 defeat at Bundesliga newcomers SV 07 Elversberg, the Werkself found the back of the net in the closing stages and, with a bit of luck, could still have equalised. “Today, our play wasn’t good enough, particularly when it came to the basics,” said head coach Carles Martínez. Like the boss, Ibrahim Maza also wants to learn from the match and look ahead: “Next week, people should be able to see from the very first minute that we want it more than our opponents.” The Werkself review on the Bundesliga opener in 2026/27.
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Werkself TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04's 2-3 loss at SV 07 Elversberg on Matchday 1 of the 2026/27 Bundesliga season...
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No points to start the league campaign: Bayer 04 lost 3-2 away to newly promoted SV 07 Elversberg in the first Bundesliga match of the 2026/27 campaign. Two quick-fire goals from Lukas Petkov (8’) and Cole Campbell (10’) gave the hosts an early lead, before David Mokwa scored the Saarland side’s third shortly after half-time (46’). In the closing stages, the Werkself rallied and staged a late comeback with goals from Patrik Schick (77’) and Christian Kofane (90+1’), but the Black and Reds were denied an equaliser.
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