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.”


Ibrahim Maza joined Bayer 04 from Hertha Berlin in the summer of 2025. The youngster from Berlin developed into a difference-maker in his first season with the Werkself. Find out what makes the highly talented player tick in this very personal interview. Among other things, Maza talks about his Algerian-Vietnamese-German home, the role of his family and the importance of Islam for him both in his private life and in football...
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Bayer 04’s Ibrahim Maza is among the three nominees for the Bundesliga’s 2025/26 Rookie of the Season award. Fans have until 23:59 CEST on Thursday, 7 May to cast their votes in the official Bundesliga app.
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Werkself-TV shows the highlights of the Bayer 04 women's 4-0 win at SGS Essen on the 24th matchday of the Google Pixel Frauen-Bundesliga 2025/26.
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