After an individual warm-up inside the new gym at Kurtekotten, Pätzold first spoke to the team inside the changing room before they headed out onto the pitch. There were six players missing on Monday. Loreen Bender, who signed a new contract to 2027 before Christmas, is still recovering from an operation on her tonsils, while Caroline Kehrer, Katharina Piljic and Anne Moll were all ill. Synne Skinnes Hansen is still in light training after her thigh injury, with Vanessa Haim completing her rehabilitation programme following a persistent back problem. However, Paulina Bartz did take some part in training after several setbacks had hampered her return in recent months. Goalkeeper Louisa Remien and Paula Schwartze from the U20s and Kirkellis Lillements also joined the squad. Estonian Lillements, who featured in the 4-0 friendly win over Zwolle a few weeks ago, is set to play for the U20s but will also take part in some training sessions with the first team.
This mild January day saw the team begin with various passing and running drills before Pätzold had his players try out some six-v-two scenarios. The focus then switched to positional play before an eight-a-side match to finish the first session of 2025.
Leverkusen play their first game of the new year with a friendly at Kurtekotten against Anderlecht on Friday, 10 January at 2.30pm CET. Two days later the team will head to Spain for an eight-day training camp in Oliva between 12 and 19 January, with two friendly matches also planned. Although the Bundesliga season doesn’t fully resume until Friday, 31 January, when the Werkself visit Eintracht Frankfurt (6.30pm), Bayer 04 do have a competitive fixture the previous week as they play their replayed Matchday 1 fixture away at Freiburg on Sunday, 26 January (12pm). You can find out more about the women’s plans for the winter break HERE.
Werkself TV shows highlights of the 2-0 win at Olympiacos in the first leg of the play-offs of the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 league...
Show more
The Werkself beat Olympiacos 2-0 in the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League play-off first leg to claim a crucial victory in the Greek capital. After a focused first-half display with a number of presentable chances, Patrik Schick crowned a textbook counter to hand the Werkself the lead on the hour (60’). The Czech rounded off his brace when he headed in from a corner just 144 seconds later. Bayer 04 maintained their lead with aplomb to achieve a good position for the return leg in Leverkusen.
Show more
Bayer 04 and Olympiacos had only met twice before the current UEFA Champions campaign. After the encounter on Matchday 7 of this season’s league phase, the Werkself travel to face the Greek side for the second time in just four weeks for the knockout play-off first leg. The Black and Reds were dominant for large spells in mid-January but lost 2-0 after missing a number of presentable chances. The Werkself aim to do better on Wednesday night to “seize the chance for revenge,” as managing director sport Simon Rolfes put it. Here’s all you need to know ahead of the game in our matchday news.
Show more
A bitter end to the fifth showdown of the 2025/26 VBL Club Championship as the #B04eSports team failed to take any points in the three remaining matches of the preliminary online round of the fifth and final showdown, missing out on the offline round. They can no longer take points in the overall table. Bayer 04 slipped out on the top eight, so direct participation in the final event for the German Club Championship is no longer possible, with Bayer 04 having to contest the play-offs.
Show more
