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.
Behind twice, Alejandro Grimaldo's next free-kick goal, six UCL debuts and a last-minute equaliser - Bayer 04 and FC Copenhagen delivered an entertaining game with a nerve-wracking finale on matchday 1 in the league phase of the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League campaign. The Werkself review brings you facts, stats and opinions on the opening game in Europe’s elite competition this term.
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Werkself-TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04's 2-2 draw at FC Copenhagen on the 1st matchday of the UEFA Champions League 2025/26...
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A nerve-wracking start to Europe's premier club competition! On Matchday 1 of the group stage of the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League, the Werkself drew 2-2 (0-1) with Danish record champions FC Copenhagen. After an early goal from Jordan Larsson (9'), the Werkself equalised late on with another direct free kick from Alejandro Grimaldo (82'). The hosts responded just four minutes later with a goal that put them 2-1 up. But Leverkusen refused to give up and, within five minutes, Pantelis Hatzidiakos was forced into scoring an own goal (90+1) to make it 2-2, which is how the game ended.
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Opening victory in the 2025/26 UEFA Youth League! Bayer 04 won 2-0 (1-0) at FC Copenhagen on Matchday 1 of the international youth competition. Emmanuel Chigozie Owen scored both goals of the game for a clinical Werkself in front of 452 spectators at Tingbjerg Idrætspark.
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