The Werkself number four suffered painful bruising to his lower leg in the DFB Cup tie at Aachen and was only able to train on his own on Monday. However, he is expected to be available for the first home game of the season on Saturday.
Lars Bender is also confident about playing against the newly promoted team at the weekend. The captain has recovered from a pulled muscle and he took a full part in training on Monday before confirming: "Everything's good. I'm on course."
In addition to Lars Bender, Tin Jedvaj returned to join his team-mates. The Croat World Cup runner-up has recently been sidelined due to back problems. The same applies to Lukas Hradecky. The keeper was suffering from gastroenteritis at the end of last week but on Monday he was diving around at the training ground again. Mitchell Weiser is not quite so close to returning. At the moment, he's working one-to-one with rehab coach Daniel Jouvin but he should return to full training in the near future.
Around 4,000 Werkself fans followed the team to Aachen last Saturday and they provided vocal support. "It was really great," said Jonathan Tah about the black and red support at the Tivoli. "We've got ambitious targets in the cup as well. And, of course, that sort of backing helps."
Was it 26 seconds? Or was it 21 seconds that Leon Bailey needed to score the third goal against Alemannia Aachen after coming off the bench? It was "definitely the quickest goal of my career," said the Jamaican who came on with clear instructions from head coach Peter Bosz: "I was supposed to make my runs. The opposition moved further and further up so that left space behind the back four." Bailey did as he was told and was immediately rewarded with a goal one day after his 22nd birthday. "Of course, that was perfect."
Last Thursday, 8 August, Peter Hermann watched the Werkself train together with team manager Hans-Peter Lehnhoff and on Monday the DFB announced the role the Bayer 04 legend has accepted. Hermann, who was at Leverkusen for nearly 30 years as a player and coach, will assist head coach Christian Wörns in running the Germany U18 team. "Peter Hermann is an institution in German football and we have been able to bring him in for our youth teams and also for youth development across Germany," said Joti Chatzialexiou, the sporting director of the national teams. Hermann and Wörns got to know each other at Leverkusen. Hermann was assistant coach to Reinhard Saftig when the former Germany international signed for the Werkself in 1991.
The long-standing successful collaboration between Bayer 04 and the transport service provider wupsi GmbH has been expanded: From January 2026, 100 wupsi bikes with Bayer 04 branding will be available for hire throughout the city of Leverkusen. They will complement the many existing offers and services that provide key support, especially for fans travelling to and from home matches at the BayArena.
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The Werkself are back! Following the two-week winter break, head coach Kasper Hjulmand's team began the new year with an open session on Sunday. After Robert Andrich and his teammates arrived in Leverkusen yesterday for the official check-in, they got back down to business a day later in front of around 1,200 fans at the Ulrich Haberland Stadion. The report from the Werkself's first session of 2026.
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In her debut season of 2024/25, Cornelia Kramer immediately became the top scorer for Bayer 04 Women. However, the Danish national team striker was stopped by an injury at the start of the new season. Now, just in time before the end of last year, she is fit again – and has extended her contract early until 2027. In this interview, the 23-year-old talks about the reasons for her decision and looks ahead.
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After a two-week winter break, the Werkself resume training on Sunday, 4 January. The first session in 2026 at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium starts at 11:00 and is open to fans. Bayer 04 look forward to welcoming supporters at the start of 2026. The Werkself schedule for the new year.
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