The match against Roma on Thursday night was something special: Bayer 04 were in a European semi-final for the first time since 2002. “18 May is a very special day for us all. We will talk a bit about the old times and hopefully of course, watch a good game,” said Rüdiger Vollborn, to this day the Leverkusen player with the most appearances and back then the Werkself goalkeeper, two hours before kick-off in the semi-final second leg.
One of the biggest moments in the club’s history was 35 years ago to the day: Bayer 04 won the UEFA Cup on penalties against Espanyol at the BayArena. After a 3-0 defeat in the first leg, the Werkself fought back and ended up as winners of the competition.
A large number of the heroes of 1988 returned to the BayArena to watch this season’s semi-final second leg. “It’s incredible that almost all of us from back then are here. We met up again for the first time ten years ago and repeated that five years ago. Today is the third time. I hope we can make it a regular event,” said Vollborn.
And although it was not enough to go through to the final of the Europa League this year, May 18 in 1988 and in 2023 – above all thanks to the tremendous atmosphere at the BayArena – will never be forgotten in the history of Bayer 04.
The group was made up of Reiner Calmund, Marcus Feinbier, Falko Götz, Minas Hantzidis, Christian Hausmann, Florian Hinterberger, Thomas Hörster, Gerd Kentschke, Knut Reinhardt, Christian Schreier, Rüdiger Vollborn, Herbert Waas and Thomas Zechel.
The Werkself training camp officially began early on Tuesday morning with the landing in Rio de Janeiro. Ahead of the first session in the afternoon local time, bayer04.de profiles the talented youngsters from the youth teams who have travelled to Brazil.
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Preparations for the 2025/26 season are in full swing with the new head coach Erik ten Hag working for the start of the season in the middle of August. After the timings for the first matchdays in the forthcoming Bundesliga season were confirmed a few days ago, we now provide information on the first sale phase for match tickets. The early booker phase, exclusively for Bayer 04 Club members, brings some changes. Read on for further information.
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Bayer 04 are away to SG Sonnenhof Großaspach in the first round of the 2025/26 DFB Pokal. The match is on Friday, 15 August (kick-off: 18:00 CEST) at the WIRmachenDRUCK Arena. Read on for the latest ticket information.
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen will partner closely with parent-company Bayer during its preseason tour to Brazil from July 14 to 24 this month. The backing from Bayer of the “Bayer 04 Brasil Tour” has been crucial in organizing the groundbreaking training camp for ten days, plus a host of local activities and community events capped by the match against Flamengo's U20 team on July 18 at Estádio da Gávea.
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The bags are packed and Bayer 04 will set off for Brazil in a few hours. Over the next ten days, the team led by head coach Erik ten Hag will be the first Bundesliga side to hold a training camp in the country of the five-time World Cup winners. The Werkself will train at Flamengo’s Campus Ninho do Urubu under the motto ‘Esquenta!’ (warm up) and play a friendly against the U20 team of the world-famous club. Read on for training camp timetable.
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