Society
Bayer 04 see local, regional and international efforts in society as obvious as football is by definition a social event. Off the pitch, Bayer 04 sees itself as a responsible employer, committed neighbour and actor for positive cohesion. The club stands for equality of opportunity and diversity, promotes education and offers all fans, female and male athletes and colleagues a familial, safe and trusted environment.
Topics
Equal opportunities and diversity
Bayer 04 is here for everybody. The club sees itself as a home for all fans, colleagues, women footballers and men footballers who feel at home under the Cross and describe the BayArena as their living room. A colourful team and a colourful home end stand for tangible diversity and cooperation where there is no room for discrimination.
ON THE PITCH
The Werkself are an international team traditionally with lots of internationals from different countries. The same applies to the Women's team and also the youth teams at Bayer 04. The public commitment of all Bayer 04 teams to diversity and against exclusion within the framework of regular campaigns such as the #Morethanfootball Action Weeks is solid proof of the commitment to society by Bayer 04.
IN THE HOME END
The BayArena is a place for happy football fests. Here every Bayer fan should be how he or she wants to be. Age, gender, appearance – none of that plays a role when you get behind the Werkself. There no space for discrimination in the home end and Bayer 04 has a clear position here. To enable all fans to have a barrier free stadium experience as far as possible, Bayer 04 offers its fans and visitors with disability a wide-ranging service offer.
AT THE WORKPLACE
The promotion of diversity is also of great significance for the team behind the team. Bayer is a signatory to the charta of diversity that campaigns for diversity in the world of work. In gaining personnel and developing them, the club therefore takes measures that will create a working environment where there is no space for prejudice.
IN SOCIETY
The community commitment at Bayer 04 has long covered various projects in the areas of inclusion and diversity. Whether that be as part of an antidiscrimination workshop in the Bayer 04 Learning curve with the focus on the prevention of sexism and racism, with Walking Football or with the inclusive project of Einfach Fussball. The club thereby carries out educational work and beyond that offers the opportunity to bring diversity at Bayer 04 to come to life.
Regional commitment
Bayer 04 are at home under the Cross. Therefore a significant element of the social commitment of Bayer 04 is focused on the city of Leverkusen and its immediate surroundings. In a cooperative relationship with local actors and initiatives, the club consolidates its role as a ‘good neighbour’. The initiatives are as varied as they are comprehensive: On the pitch, that applies to the projects of Einfach Fussball, Football Fans inTraining, Bundesliga bewegt and Diabetes Camp. The offers are aimed at different target groups but have the common feature that (football) sport is centre stage.
Educational and preventive work under the Bayer Cross involves the team of the Leverkusen Fan Project and the self initiated project supported by the DFL foundation of the Bayer 04 Learning Curve. The regional commitment of Bayer 04 is rounded off with a range of measures for the residents of Leverkusen. That includes the traditional Bayer 04 Helps Days, the Christmas Festival of Friends, the Werkself Lion events and beaker donations on matchdays in aid of alternate Leverkusen initiatives.
Education
Bayer 04 look after their young players: on and off the pitch. The principle of dual careers applies at the Bayer 04 Performance Centre. That includes individual support and career planning the time during above all after football career. For that, the Werkself work during school time with the Leverkusen Sports College and also cooperates with other schools in the vicinity. In addition, active Werkself athletes have the opportunity after finishing school to take up training at Bayer 04. Up-and-coming female and male players, who are not from Leverkusen or live here, share organised accommodation or live with host families or they receive support in the form of a travel service so that sport and school can be brought together under one hat.
Ebenso fördert der Klub Mitarbeitende in ihrer Weiterbildung und Talententwicklung. Ziel ist es, eine top ausgebildete Belegschaft zu haben und Mitarbeitende bestmöglich und nach ihren Bedürfnissen zu fordern und fördern.
Für den Nachwuchs, der nicht unterm Kreuz Fußball spielt, aber dafür unterm Kreuz zur Schule geht, bietet Bayer 04 im Rahmen der Bayer 04 Lernkurve zahlreiche Workshops und AGs zu verschiedenen Themenbereichen für alle Altersklassen an.
Health
Health and sport are subjects that are closely related to each other. Bayer 04 therefore raises awareness of health issues on many levels – be it physical, mental or social health. Bayer 04 does this for employees in the form of regular free fitness courses and nutrition tips and is thereby a responsible employer. The club also puts this into action for its athletes through a comprehensive health concept and makes its knowledge public: Examples of that are measures such as the Stay well campaign, regularly held Diabetes Camps, the courses of Football fans in training or school workshops on the subjects of preventing bullying, and improving nutrition. Health is a subject where the close connection to Bayer AG comes to the fore.
Safety
Bayer 04 offers a safe space for everybody and, above all, a place where everybody should be able to feel at home. This secures the structure of the club. In and around the BayArena this is ensured by the stadium regulations and the security service of the long-term security partner Securitas. The specialist personnel have been trained on the subjects of preventing violence and being anti discriminatory. That includes the introduction of of an offer of help in Luisa is here in partnership with the advice centre against sexualised violence in thee.V. Frauennotruf Leverkusen, the Bayer 04 Fan Liaison team and the Fanprojekt Leverkusen e.V . The offer of aid is primarily directed at people affected by sexual harassment in the stadium on matchdays but it also serves as a contact point for other cases of violence and discrimination.
Also away from matchdays, a comprehensive child protection plan as well as high standards with health and safety at work and in the areas of compliance and data protection ensure a safe Bayer 04 for everybody. The club will not tolerate violence and discrimination in whatever form and sees that as a basis for mutual confidence.
News
Bayer 04 is Wiesdorf: School workshop with Tah on racism
Whether at school, in grassroots sports or at the football stadium – racism and discrimination of all kinds are still prevalent in our society. For this reason, Bayer 04 has been organising preventative school workshops on the subject of racism for many years. This week, one of these workshops took place at the Lise-Meitner-Gymnasium not far from the BayArena as part of the Wiesdorf district matchday - and with a prominent guest: Werkself star Jonathan Tah worked intensively with the pupils on the topic. The German champion and international also spoke about his personal experiences with racism.
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International Women's Day: Stadium announcer Pitti Dahl – the woman with the mic
She was the first female stadium announcer in the Bundesliga and the only one for a long time: Petra 'Pitti' Dahl has been the voice at the BayArena home games since 2009. She was born in Leverkusen and also works in the marketing department at Bayer 04. In an interview with bayer04.de, she talks on this special day about her role as a woman at a football stadium, the relevance of diversity at a football club and the significance of International Women's Day for her.
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District Matchdays: Lomb, Skinnes Hansen and Thiel visit primary school in Bergisch Neukirchen
The primary school pupils won't forget this sports lesson in a hurry. As part of the 'District Matchdays' campaign, a Bayer 04 trio visited GGS Bergisch Neukirchen ahead of the Werkself's home match against Borussia Mönchengladbach on Saturday (kick-off 18:30 CET). Players Niklas Lomb and Synne Skinnes Hansen along with men's goalkeeping coach David Thiel had a kickabout with the fourth-graders in the school gym on the fourth campaign matchday, which is all about Bergisch Neukirchen.
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Signed jerseys auctioned off to aid palliative care unit
Bayer Vital, Bayer 04 and the Klinikum Leverkusen hospital have joined forces to raise awareness of early prostate cancer detection. Six signed Werkself jerseys were auctioned off in recent weeks, raising an impressive total of €5,390. This donation went to the Verein zur Förderung der Palliativmedizin am Klinikum Leverkusen e.V. as part of the #stellkrebsvomplatz campaign.
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Sustainability in 2023: holistic approach and responsible behaviour
Bayer 04 was not only successful on the pitch in the 2023 calendar year, but the Werkself also continued to develop alongside its sporting endeavours. Starting with the creation of a new staff position for sustainability in the previous year, Leverkusen built on this in 2023 to develop a holistic and future-proof concept for this area. This was brought to life throughout the year with the help of numerous campaigns. Here’s our sustainability review of the year.
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