“We have the opportunity to make sure of finishing fifth through our own efforts and end the season with a win – that has to be our target in the last game of the season and that’s how we need to play,” demanded head coach Achim Feifel. Over the past two weeks, the 56-year-old has prepared his team for the last match against an opponent who will “be brutally physical and try everything to stay on the Bundesliga,” with competitive training and an internal friendly – he declared, “there will be no dawdling” before the summer break.
SC Sand will definitely be highly motivated with a victory at SV Meppen on the previous matchday setting them on course for the final game. The three points saw the team coached by Alexander Fischinger moving out of the drop zone and now staying up is their own hands. “They will give everything they’ve got,” Feifel is certain, “the coach has had an effect in recent weeks.” Fischinger took over the helm at the end of April in place of Nora Häuple, who was relieved of her role as coach at the relegation-threatened club.
For a number of players, such as Henrietta Csiszár, Pauline Machtens, Viktoria Pinther, Frederike Kempe and Selina Garofalo, it will be their last game in a Bayer 04 shirt on Sunday. “If it’s possible, I will try and play all the players who are leaving us,” said Feifel, but he does want to send the players who have had less time on the pitch due to injury “into the summer break feeling good. However, the impressions from training and performances will decide the team I send out onto the pitch and one that I believe can win the game. That is what the other teams who are still have something to play for will expect from us.”
There will be no more appearances in black and red for Isabel Kerschowski who leaves the Werkself for Potsdam in the new season. The 33-year-old has played in all this season’s matches to date – an ankle injury picked up in the game against FC Bayern two weeks ago keeps her out of the season finale at SC Sand. Ann-Kathrin Vinken also suffered an injury against the league leaders. Following the diagnosis of a torn syndesmosis ligament, she underwent a successful operation in the middle of the week. In addition to long-term injured players, Nina Brüggemann is ruled out with back problems.
Bayer 04 will broadcast the final Bundesliga match of the current season on the club’s YouTube channel. HERE is the link to the stream.
Rüdiger Vollborn has been at the club for 40 years, he holds the record number of Bundesliga appearances for the club (401) and is the only Bayer 04 player to have won both the UEFA Cup (1988) and the DFB Pokal (1993). And the Berliner stayed with the Werkself after ending his impressive playing career as he worked as a goalkeeping coach for the following nine years. Vollborn now works under the Bayer Cross as a fan liaison officer and club archivist. Since February 2021, the personalised Black and Red lexicon takes Werkself fans under the heading of 'Rudi recounts...' on a brief trip through the history of Bayer 04 every month…
Show moreTo all Bayer 04 fans: The Fanwelt will be closed all day next Monday 30 June. This is due to preparations for the change of kit supplier from Castore to New Balance on Tuesday 1 July.
Show moreThe Norway U23 international Julie Jorde has completed the move from Bayer 04 Leverkusen to Brøndby IF. The twelve-time champions of Denmark have signed the midfielder on permanent terms after her loan move from the Bundesliga to Denmark in the winter.
Show moreIt is almost two years since Bayer 04 new signing Abdoulaye Faye first stepped foot into the BayArena as a player for the Swedish club BK Häcken in the opening match in the 2023/24 Europa League campaign. A day before his nineteenth birthday, the central defender did not play in the 4-0 win for the Werkself but it was "an incredible night" for him on 21 September 2023 as he explained in his first interview on bayer04.de. "I watched the players and saw the fans. I liked it." It was also the first European night early on in his career. He only joined the then champions of Sweden in the cold north of Europe from his home in Senegal a few weeks before that special moment. Bayer04.de profiles our new defender.
Show moreWelcome, Abdoulaye Faye. The 20-year-old Senegalese central defender joins Leverkusen from top-flight Swedish club BK Häcken. In his first interview he talks about his move to Bayer 04 and his targets with the Werkself.
Show more