At 08:00 CEST on Monday morning, the journey began on the team coach from the BayArena to Rieden, some 500 kilometres away, set in one of Bavaria’s most beautiful landscapes. Following last year’s positive experience, the Leverkusen Women will be staying at the Hotel Gut Matheshof until next Sunday to lay the foundations for a successful new season. Before last year’s departure, Pätzold raved about the “fantastic conditions” there.
After arriving and having a light lunch in the afternoon, the first training session was already on the agenda at the training ground, a ten-minute walk from the hotel. With football tennis and various small-sided passing drills, Pätzold and his coaching team took it easy after the six-hour journey. A total of five further sessions on the pitch, as well as two stamina and yoga sessions, are scheduled before they leave. Thursday afternoon will be devoted entirely to team-building.
As the sporting highlight of the training camp, the Werkself are set to play a friendly on Saturday 18 July (16:00 CEST, Fenstertechnik-Weinfurtner-Arena in Rieden), consisting of four 30-minute halves, against Czech first-division side Slovan Liberec. Following the two matches against Mainz 05 (2-0) and PSV Eindhoven (0-1), this will be the Werkself’s third pre-season friendly.
Twenty-nine players have made the trip, including all eleven new signings from the summer: Justine Brandau (Feyenoord), Natasha Kowalski, Paulina Platner (both SGS Essen), Lobke Loonen (FC Utrecht), Lumbardha Misini (Servette), Marlene Müller (RB Leipzig), Carolin Simon (Bayern Munich), Maja Sternad (Werder Bremen), Paulina Tomasiak (Gornik Leczna) and Emily Wallrabenstein (Eintracht Frankfurt II), as well as Rafaela Borggräfe, who is once again on loan from Liverpool. The only player missing from the first-team squad was striker Amy Wrigge (torn cruciate ligament); in her place, goalkeeper Lea Egbers and Jana Lindner from the U23 team were included.
Away from the training ground too, the Bayer 04 Women are finding the conditions in Rieden ideal for intensive pre-season preparation. The Hotel Gut Matheshof is situated in the heart of a peaceful landscape with woods and meadows, between Regensburg (55 kilometres away) and Nuremberg (85 kilometres). The idyllic surroundings provide the perfect conditions for the team to focus on getting in the right frame of mind for the coming campaign.
Back in Leverkusen, pre-season preparations for the new Bundesliga campaign will pause for a week. The second phase of the preseason begins on Monday 27 July. There will then be just under four weeks until the start of the new Google Pixel Women’s Bundesliga season. The first matchday will take place between 21 and 24 August. The Werkself’s opponents will be confirmed on Thursday, when the German Football Association (DFB) publishes the fixture list for the 2026/27 season.
To mark Exequiel Palacios’s departure, we’ve put together a compilation of the midfielder’s finest and most important goals from his six-and-a-half years at the club.
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Ernest Poku is leaving Bayer 04 Leverkusen to play in the Turkish Süper Lig. The club has loaned the Dutch winger to Beşiktaş for one year. If certain criteria are met, the Istanbul club – who finished fourth in the Turkish top flight last season – will be obliged to make the move permanent.
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The fixture details for the Bayer 04 Women’s first match in the 2026/27 DFB Pokal has been confirmed: As announced by the German Football Association (DFB) on Thursday morning, the Leverkusen Women will face second-tier side FC Viktoria Berlin in the first round on Sunday 27 September at 14:00 CEST.
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40 years of European nights, unforgettable moments and great stories. With the new European jersey, Bayer 04 Leverkusen and kit supplier New Balance are celebrating the club’s history in European competitions under the epic slogan ‘40 Years Across Europe. Still Creating History.’ The European jersey is now available from the Bayer 04 web shop and the Bayer 04 Fanwelt.
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