
By taking this action, the Werkself are looking to draw attention to the long-standing commitment of the foundation. Deutsche Krebshilfe has been providing support for people suffering from cancer and their relatives since 1974. According to the motto of "Help. Research. Information." the organisation promotes projects for the improvement of prevention, screening, diagnosis, therapy, medical after-care and psychosocial care.
Matthias Adler, head of fans and sustainability: "The Deutsche Krebshilfe organisation with Bayer 04 advocate a healthy lifestyle as a preventative measure. This is happening as part of the project of Football Fans in Training. On the 50th anniversary, we want to raise additional awareness of Deutsche Krebshilfe with our profile in the cup competition on our sleeves."
Gerd Nettekoven, CEO of the Stiftung Deutsche Krebshilfe: "We are very happy that the German champions are showing commitment to the Deutsche Krebshilfe and making the sleeve on the team jerseys available free of charge for the Pokal game against Jena. The increased awareness for our important work in all areas in the fight against cancer is of very great value to us."



This is not a one-off event. Bayer 04 has been in partnership with the Deutsche Krebshilfe organisation for many years and is planning further joint actions with the foundation in this anniversary year: Bayer 04 will take part in a special campaign in professional sport in the autumn initiated by the foundation. In addition, together with the Deutsche Krebshilfe, Bayer 04 will be staging a ‘Football fans in training’ tournament 2024 on 12 October with participants from all over Germany.
At ‘Football fans in training’ overweight fans have the opportunity to lose kilos on free courses with professional support at Bayer 04 facilities and to look at their own diets in groups with like-minded people. The preventative project is now being carried out in 25 clubs in the three professional leagues in Germany together with the Deutsche Krebshilfe organisation.

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 working 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 personal 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…
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Bayer 04 host top French club Marseille at the BayArena on matchday four in the 2026/27 UEFA Europa League group stage. The match kicks off on Thursday 5 November at 21:00 CET. The latest information on ticket sales.
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The BAYER 04 HILFT Day is celebrating an anniversary: for the tenth year running, a large number of employees of the Bundesliga club have been getting involved in a community project in Leverkusen and the surrounding area. Following the refurbishment of the city library last year, this time around some 70 staff members rolled up their sleeves to help out at the Bunker Youth Centre in Leverkusen-Wiesdorf. With the support of the Lebenshilfe workshops in Leverkusen and partner Coca-Cola, a rubber football pitch was laid, a Bayer 04-style lounge was created and other projects were carried out. Werkself players and coaching staff also gave their all.
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen and sponsors club partner NRG24 are continuing their partnership, which has been in place since the summer of 2023. The Bundesliga football club and the energy consultancy firm have extended their successful partnership until 30 June 2027.
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