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.”


New signing Miguel Gutiérrez arrives in Leverkusen having won the Champions League, the Spanish league title and an Olympic gold medal. However, the 25-year-old Spaniard, signed from Napoli, is looking to the future – he wants to write the next chapter of success with the Werkself. Bayer04.de takes a closer look at the skilful, attack-minded left-back, who will wear the number 3 jersey.
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The Werkself's training camp in Weimarer Land all in one place: in our daily blog you'll find all the insights and updates from the day. Day three (Tuesday 4 August) begins with a thorough open session on the pitch. After lunch, some players have media engagements at the team hotel, and then the team come together for a barbecue in the evening.
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Nine matches against teams from nine countries, two penalty shoot-outs won, and encounters that went far beyond football: As with last year, the Inklusionswerkself enjoyed an extraordinary week at the Genuine Cup 2026 in Houston, USA, and made memories that will last a lifetime. This year, the Leverkusen side took part as Germany’s official representatives and, accordingly, took to the pitch in Germany kit. Together with 53 teams from 53 nations, the Black and Reds once again sent a powerful message of inclusion and participation – and also impressed on the pitch by winning their group.
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The Werkself training camp in the Weimarer Land all in one place: in our daily blog, you’ll find all the insights and updates from the day. The programme for day two (Monday, 3 August) centres on two training sessions – one in the morning (open to the public) and one in the early evening (behind closed doors) – at the nearby training grounds. In the afternoon, fans can look forward to a big fan meet-up with club legend Paulo Sergio at Schloss Blankenhain.
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