
The 72 pages of the document describe the many sides of the ongoing work in the community and provides an in-depth insight into the different areas of social commitment. Subjects such as inclusion, volunteering, the interaction of the various supporters groups plus children and youth work are the key areas in the report. In addition, Bayer 04 Leverkusen also highlight aspects such as employee development, environmentally-friendly catering at the BayArena and Youth team development.
“The key point is the central question of our current and future corporate strategy: How do issues of the environment, society, fans, employees, players and partners of the Werkself influence our core business of football,” said Bayer 04 CEO Michael Schade in explaining the aim of the CSR report. He emphasised, “social responsibility - as is the case with the parent company Bayer AG - has a long tradition and practical implementation.”
The A4 brochure, in both German and English, and available online, presents a proactive view of Bayer 04 staff, fans, media as well as the multipliers in football. Under the rubric ‘Wir.04’, case examples, interviews and photo galleries document the great community feeling in and around Bayer 04 Leverkusen that is a driving force, concept and obligation for getting involved with the community to make a contribution to society in Leverkusen, the surrounding region and overseas as well. This clearly demonstrates the potential significance and power of football in making a valuable contribution to solving social challenges.

In their third friendly of this pre-season, Bayer 04 played on home soil for the first time – and won there too! The Werkself claimed a comfortable 4-0 victory against Belgian top-flight side KRC Genk at the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion. Jeanuel Belocian (9’) and Nathan Tella (42’) gave a dominant Leverkusen a 2-0 lead at the break, which Afonso Moreira (51’) and Christian Kofane (53’) doubled after the break. Among the many second-half substitutions was Patrik Schick, who made his first friendly appearance of the summer.
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The Werkself are finally back. On Saturday 8 August, Bayer 04 kick off the 2026/27 campaign with their opening match. But there’s far more than just a double-header in store for Werkself supporters. True to the motto ‘One day. Two teams. One club’, the BayArena and the Ulrich Haberland Stadium will be transformed into a world of excitement.
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The Werkself continue their 2026/27 pre-season preparations with their third friendly against Belgian top-flight side KRC Genk at the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion on Wednesday 29 July (kick-off 15:00 CEST). Werkself-TV is broadcasting the match live and in full in a stream from 14:50 CEST...

After the children from the Bayer 04 Football Academy grilled Janis Blaswich and Simeon Rapsch last week, another group of 20 young Werkself fans gathered at the BayArena press conference room on Tuesday afternoon, 28 July . This time, the kids directed their questions at Tim Oermann and Jonah Berghoff. Defender Oermann raved about his school days, whilst talented midfielder Berghoff revealed to the young footballers, amongst other things, who his favourite player is – and he is also at Bayer 04. To round things off, the pair naturally obliged with all requests for autographs and selfies.
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Bayer 04 are back on the pitch. Following the first training sessions, the Werkself play the first pre-season friendly on Saturday, July 18. The match against Oberliga club Sportfreunde Baumberg kicks off at 15:30 CEST in Monheim am Rhein. Fans unable to attend the match can watch head coach Carles Martínez’s first game in charge for free via a livestream at bayer04.de and on the Bayer 04 app, as well as on Werkself.tv (exclusively for members). Just log on and watch the games live. All the other Werkself preseason friendlies leading up to the 2026/27 season will also be streamed live for free.
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