Gianna Rackow leaves after eight years at Leverkusen. She joined the Bayer 04 junior section in 2013 and three years later made her debut in the FLYERALARM Women's Bundesliga before going on to make 71 appearances in eight years in a black and red shirt. She has also played for number of Germany junior teams. It remains to be seen who the 20-year-old will join next.
The Japan international Mina Tanaka ends a loan spell at Bayer 04. The striker joined Leverkusen in the winter on a six-month loan deal from the Japanese top-flight club INAC Kobe Leonessa. The 27-year-old played in all ten games after the winter break and she scored four goals in the Bundesliga.
Barbara Reger and Pauline Wimmer, whose contracts run out in the summer of 2021, are initially focusing on recovery. Reger suffered a torn cruciate at the beginning of May and has since undergone a successful operation. The 21-year-old is now in rehab. She also made the step up from the youth section – the midfielder has played for Bayer 04 since 2011 and has been in the Women's first-team since 2017. Reger has made 48 appearances.
Pauline Wimmer has been sidelined for a longer period: The 19-year-old also suffered a torn cruciate at the beginning of 2020. As it was the second within three years (the first was at the start of the 2017/18 season), there first had to be a stabilisation procedure on the bone affected and that was followed by another operation on the cruciate and a long time for recovery.
Sandra Maria Jessen's contract also runs out at the end of the month. The Iceland international will not be involved in any football in the coming months as the 26-year-old is expecting her first child in the summer. Jessen played for the Werkself Women from 2015 to 2017; she returned in the winter of 2019 and has made a total of 46 appearances for Bayer 04. Nicole Banecki's contract also runs out at the end of the month.
Linda Schöttler, general manager of women's football at Bayer 04, wishes the players, "all the best for the future. We thank everybody for their commitment, in particular Gianna and Barbara for their many years at Bayer 04. Both of them matured into Bundesliga players at Leverkusen. We wish Barbara and Pauline a speedy recovery and Sandra Maria all the best for the rest of her pregnancy and the birth of her child."
The fourth showdown in the VBL Club Championship 2025/26 starts for the Leverkusen eSports team today, Thursday 22 January (live on the B04eSports Twitch channel and on the Bayer 04 app from 19:00 CET). In the online preliminary round, the Black and Reds will once again compete with six previously drawn opponents for a place in the Top 16 and the associated entry into the offline knockout round in Berlin on 2 February at the fourth showdown. The lowdown on our next three opponents in the online preliminary round.
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The fourth European away trip of the season in the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 takes the Werkself to the Greek capital. Head coach Kasper Hjulmand's team are away to Greek double winners Olympiacos on matchday seven in the UCL league phase. The match at the Karaiskakis Stadium is on Tuesday, 20 January (kick-off: 21:00 CET). We'll be taking you on a trip to Athens and reporting on the Werkself close-up...
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A great honour for Bayer 04 Women's German international: as part of the 2025 Sports Awards, Carlotta Wamser entered her name into the City of Leverkusen's Golden Book. On Tuesday, she looked back on a special year in a talk in the Morsbroich Castle hall of mirrors.
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It was a disappointing night in Athens: The Werkself lost 2-0 away to Olympiacos on Matchday 7 in the league phase of the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League campaign. In a match that was intense and fiery from the outset, the high-pressing home side made the better start and took the lead through Costinha on two minutes. Although the Werkself had a number of chances to equalise, the clinical Greek side increased the lead to 2-0 shortly before half-time (45+1’). In the second half, Leverkusen once again gave their all and showed total commitment but, despite their best efforts, the Black and Reds were unable to break down the Olympiacos defence on the night.
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