
In addition to special targeted measures on primary prevention and the promotion of general health, Bayer 04 and the BERGISCHE KRANKENKASSE have and will increasingly focus on children and teenagers and thereby go beyond the traditional field of occupational health. The "Lebenswelt Schule" will play a significant role in those activities.
In the region during 2023, a project of the Bayer 04 Lernkurve organised 45 workshop for year groups 1 to 5 with 30 children per workshop attending in their classes. The content focused on the ability to work in a team, nutrition, anti-bullying measures and media skills. A multi-school parents evening is planned in the spring of 2024 to enable the BERGISCHE KRANKENKASSE and Bayer 04 to provide information on health promotion and primary prevention to parents as well as the children.
Under the motto of ‘Werkself hautnah gesund erleben' (experience the Werkself close-up healthily) there were eight events organised by Bayer 04 and BERGISCHE KRANKENKASSE in association with home games at the current Bundesliga league leaders. 35 to 40 children took part in the activities, which recently included training sessions at the Bayer 04 Soccer School where children were informed about the cardiovascular system and sport through practical sessions. The BERGISCHE KRANKENKASSE extended the programme of events by organising a Family Olympics.
In future, the issue of healthy nutrition will increasingly be highlighted by the ‘Werkself hautnah gesund erleben’ project. Up to the summer of 2024 there will be five other events of this type at Werkself home games.

In their third friendly of this pre-season, Bayer 04 played on home soil for the first time – and won there too! The Werkself claimed a comfortable 4-0 victory against Belgian top-flight side KRC Genk at the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion. Jeanuel Belocian (9’) and Nathan Tella (42’) gave a dominant Leverkusen a 2-0 lead at the break, which Afonso Moreira (51’) and Christian Kofane (53’) doubled after the break. Among the many second-half substitutions was Patrik Schick, who made his first friendly appearance of the summer.
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The Werkself are finally back. On Saturday 8 August, Bayer 04 kick off the 2026/27 campaign with their opening match. But there’s far more than just a double-header in store for Werkself supporters. True to the motto ‘One day. Two teams. One club’, the BayArena and the Ulrich Haberland Stadium will be transformed into a world of excitement.
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The Werkself continue their 2026/27 pre-season preparations with their third friendly against Belgian top-flight side KRC Genk at the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion on Wednesday 29 July (kick-off 15:00 CEST). Werkself-TV is broadcasting the match live and in full in a stream from 14:50 CEST...

After the children from the Bayer 04 Football Academy grilled Janis Blaswich and Simeon Rapsch last week, another group of 20 young Werkself fans gathered at the BayArena press conference room on Tuesday afternoon, 28 July . This time, the kids directed their questions at Tim Oermann and Jonah Berghoff. Defender Oermann raved about his school days, whilst talented midfielder Berghoff revealed to the young footballers, amongst other things, who his favourite player is – and he is also at Bayer 04. To round things off, the pair naturally obliged with all requests for autographs and selfies.
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Bayer 04 are back on the pitch. Following the first training sessions, the Werkself play the first pre-season friendly on Saturday, July 18. The match against Oberliga club Sportfreunde Baumberg kicks off at 15:30 CEST in Monheim am Rhein. Fans unable to attend the match can watch head coach Carles Martínez’s first game in charge for free via a livestream at bayer04.de and on the Bayer 04 app, as well as on Werkself.tv (exclusively for members). Just log on and watch the games live. All the other Werkself preseason friendlies leading up to the 2026/27 season will also be streamed live for free.
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