The annual event took place for the fifteenth time. The first Bayer 04 golfers to start included Fernando Carro, CEO, the two managing directors of TecArenaPlus GmbH Felix Duden and Ulrich Wölfer plus Dr. Karl-Heinrich Dittmar, medical director. And club representative Stefan Kießling plus the Werkself players Jonas Hofmann and Niklas Lomb also joined in. Markus Breglec, chief marketing and innovation officer, joined the event in the evening.
Other participants included several Bayer 04 partners plus former javelin world champion and current head of the Leverkusen sports college Steffi Nerius.
After a relaxed breakfast, the 80 participants made their way onto the course at the Leverkusen Golf Club at 11.30 CEST. They played a round of 18 holes with a shotgun start. The golf continued until late afternoon and was followed by an evening meal together to round off the day.
It was a successful day all round for club representative Stefan Kießling: "We had perfect conditions today: A brilliant course, great weather and top catering. Once again it was a very professionally organised tournament and it was real fun," he said before adding: "I've known a lot of them for fifteen years and the tournament is now an institution that you look forward to each year. And it's also great that so much money has been raised for a good cause at the end of the day."
A total of €17,000 was collected this year in aid of the Deutscher Kinderschutzbund Leverkusen. The donation was made up of the entry fees for participants and was added to by an auction in the evening with a number of partners donating prizes.
Kießling presented a cheque to Ingo Ende, CEO of the Deutscher Kinderschutzbund Leverkusen. Ende said: "As the Kinderschutzbund Leverkusen, we are very grateful to Bayer 04 and all supporters of the tournament today for the generous donation. We will be able to make optimum use of this money in different areas including counselling sessions with children who are in need and suffering mentally and physically. Thanks to your donation we are able to continue helping them.”
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.
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Kasper Hjulmand has led the Werkself back to winning ways and is back in the knockout phase of the UEFA Champions League with Bayer 04 after the 3-0 win against Villarreal on Wednesday evening. In an interview with the Werkself magazine at the BayArena in the team meeting room, directly opposite the dressing room, he provided some special insights for the current issue, which was published in January. A conversation with the 53-year-old coach about values, attitudes and personal experiences as well as interests outside of football.
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The thrilling 3-1 win for Bayer 04 against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Hinrunde is a fond memory for Alejandro Grimaldo, with his brace from free kicks, and coach Kasper Hjulmand, who was in the dugout under the Cross for the first time. Now comes the return fixture in the metropolis on the River Main and after going out of the DFB Pokal and the Champions League, the full focus at Eintracht, currently managed by two interim coaches, is now on the Bundesliga. For their part, the Werkself will do everything in their power to continue the longest winning run against a Bundesliga club. The matchday news.
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Bayer 04 have ended Artem Stepanov’s loan deal at Nürnberg and agreed a new loan to Utrecht in the Netherlands. The Ukrainian striker did not play as much as hoped for at the Bundesliga 2 club and will now continue his development in the Eredivisie for the rest of 2025/26.
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The draw for the knockout play-offs of the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League was made on Friday, 30 January and saw Bayer 04 paired with Olympiacos. It’s a reunion with the Greek side following the Werkself’s 2-0 loss in Athens on Matchday 7 of the league phase.
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