Together with her new teammates, Carlotta Wamser stepped onto the training ground just before ten in the morning. The wingback signed from Eintracht Frankfurt reached the semi-finals with Germany at the Euros in July and she played her way into the limelight with her impressive performances in Switzerland. After a ten-day break, she is immediately working with her new club to lay the foundations for a successful new season. The Euros turned out to be less successful for Cornelia Kramer, who made her first appearance in the tournament finals like Wamser, with Denmark being knocked out in the group stages. The striker also returned to training on Monday morning. The duo worked individually while the rest of the team had lots of drills involving the ball.
Coach Roberto Pätzold had almost his full squad available for the first time this summer. Only Juliette Vidal and Amy Wrigge (both with slight muscular problems), Caroline Kehrer (knee) and Shen Menglu (torn cruciate) missed the session.
The Werkself started the pre-season at the end of June before the two-week break with friendlies against TSG Hoffenheim (0-2), PEC Zwolle (1-1) and Ajax (1-0). There are four more friendlies in the coming weeks: The Black and Reds play the Belgian club KVC Westerlo on Saturday, 9 August (13:00 CEST) at Kurtekotten and it’s the same venue a week later on Friday, 15 August (12:00 CEST, 3×45 minutes) against PSV Eindhoven from the Netherlands.
The training camp in Rieden (Bavaria) starts two days later with the Leverkusen Women fine tuning from 17 to 23 August for the start of the season. There is another friendly a day before returning on Friday, 22 August (14:00 CEST) with a game against VfL Wolfsburg. After the return to Leverkusen, the Pätzold team play Belgian club Standard Liège at Kurtekotten on Saturday, 30 August (16:00 CEST, 3×45 minutes). The new season in the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga begins a week later on Saturday, 6 September (17:45 CEST, live on ARD, MagentaSport and DAZN) with the official opening fixture away to the German champions Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena.
The summer timetable can be found HERE.
Panagiotis, known as Panos, Retsos wore the Bayer 04 jersey for three years. Including his loan spells, he was under contract with the Werkself for a total of four and a half years. "It's a very special club for me," said the 27-year-old, who returned to his boyhood club Olympiacos in 2022, in an interview with bayer04.de. The former Leverkusen man is now captain and a first choice for the Werkself's next opponents in the UEFA Champions League. Ahead of the clash on Tuesday night, 20 January (kick-off: 21:00 CET), Retsos talks about his fond memories of his time in Leverkusen and the imminent reunion with some of his former team-mates. He also talks about who brought him to Leverkusen and why he likes getting older.
Show more
Four Bayer 04 players are in action at the 35th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations being played in Morocco from 21 December to 18 January 2026: Eliesse Ben Seghir for the hosts, Edmond Tapsoba with Burkina Faso, Ibrahim Maza for Algeria and Christian Kofane with Cameroon. Updates on the AFCON matches involving Werkself players...
Show more
Bayer 04 Leverkusen will have to manage without goalkeeper Mark Flekken and forward Nathan Tella for the time being.
Show more
After a week in the Algarve, the Bayer 04 Women returned home on Saturday afternoon. The Werkself had six training sessions, two friendlies and a lot of time together as a team. Roberto Pätzold's team will be back in action in the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga next Friday for the start of matchday 15.
Show more
"We didn’t make the right decision at the right moments," said captain Robert Andrich after the 1-0 defeat away to TSG Hoffenheim, where Bayer 04 endeavoured to control the game but failed to score. The Werkself also had two enforced substitutions due to injuries. Nevertheless, the coach, captain and debutant Janis Blaswich are positive about the coming weeks. The Werkself review.
Show more
