The Ulrich Haberland Stadium and Pitch 1 at the Kurtekotten Performance Centre were assessed as the two home venues in the Bundesliga for the Women’s team. The basis for the award is a DFB ground staff tool where representatives of each team and the referees provide their assessment of the quality of the pitch after every league game. The scale ranges from 1 (very poor) to 10 (excellent). Bayer 04 had the best average mark of 8.76. VfL Wolfsburg were second and SGS Essen were third.
“We see the award as confirmation of our work and an incentive to carry on doing all we can to provide the best possible playing surface,” said Georg Schmitz. “When you remember our U17, U19 and Women’s teams were playing home games at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium last season and the Werkself trained there twice a week then the pitch was used a lot – and that demands appropriate care. That makes us even happier to receive such recognition for our work.”
Under the direction of Schmitz, the large number of pitches at Bayer 04 are looked after by a team of 14 permanent members of staff, part-timers and employees. While there is a hybrid playing surface at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium – a durable mixture of grass and synthetic fibres – Pitch 1 at the Kurtekotten Performance Centre has a traditional turf playing surface. The ground staff work on a shift system as there is almost daily use of both venues.
Linda Schöttler, general manager of the Bayer 04 Women, very much values this work: “We can train and play under optimum conditions and the playing surfaces are exemplary at both sites. That’s not always the case in the Women’s Bundesliga. There are big differences at times with regard to the pitch quality at the various venues.”
Bayer 04 won a pitch of the year award for the first time two years ago. In 2017/18, an expert panel from the German Football League (DFL) named the BayArena as the ‘Bundesliga pitch of the year’.
Plenty going on both on and off the pitch: The Bayer 04 fan support team has organised a number of highlights for fans visiting the Werkself 2026/27 summer training camp in Blankenhain, in the Weimarer Land region. Registration for the events is now open. All the details at a glance.
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The Bayer 04 Leverkusen Women’s team and s2-Software are continuing their long-term partnership: The Werkself and the provider of pre-owned Microsoft licences have extended their contract by two years to 2028. This means s2-Software will remain the Bayer 04 sleeve sponsor for all matches in the Google Pixel Women’s Bundesliga.
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BIOGENA is the new performance partner for the Bayer 04 Leverkusen Women’s team. Under a partnership initially set to run for three years, the club and the leading Austrian micronutrient company are pooling their expertise in the areas of health, fitness and top-level performance.
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100 children from the Bayer 04 Football Academy had the chance to gain exclusive insights: As part of the summer camp, the young footballers headed inside the BayArena at midday on Tuesday, 21 July, where they were due to meet Werkself keepers Janis Blaswich and Simeon Rapsch in the press conference room. The two players took plenty of time to answer every question from the inquisitive audience – whether it was about their own careers or their first impressions of the new head coach. Finally, there was even time left to sign autographs for the young fans.
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Following the cancellation of Bayer 04’s scheduled friendly against Carl Zeiss Jena on 1 August, the Werkself have now found a new opponent for the same day and will host Rot-Weiss Essen of the 3. Liga at the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion. Kick-off is at 11:00 CEST and tickets are available now.
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