The Werkself – our team | Bayer 04 Leverkusen

Werkself

Coaches/staff

Coaches

Sergi Runge

Assistant Coach

Assistant coach analysis

Simon Lackmann

First-team analyst

Dr. Malte Krüger

Head of sports science and fitness

Prisca Volmary

Sports scientist

Staff

Hans-Peter Lehnhoff

Team liaison manager

Dr. Karl-Heinrich Dittmar

Head team doctor

Dr. Philipp Ehrenstein

Team doctor

Dr. Stefan Porten

Team doctor

Sven Elsinger

Head of physiotherapy and rehabilitation

Ill-Han Yu

Head physiotherapist

Florian Kroder

Physiotherapist

Jonas Schmitt

Physiotherapist

David Jann

Physiotherapist

Stephan Hartner

Physiotherapist

Christian Beckers

Head of support staff

Martin Kowatzki

Support staff

Markus Irmer

Support staff

Lena Kadlec

Sports Nutritionist (External)

Werkstatt

Carsten Rademacher

Head of department

Hans-Jörg Schneider

Physiotherapist

Gregor Stumpf

Rehabilitation trainer

Florian Cordes

Physiotherapist

Vladislav Kats

Rehabilitation trainer

Philipp Karcher

Physiotherapist/ Rehabilitation trainer

Ahura Bassimtabar

Physiotherapist

Tim Hielscher

Physiotherapist, Osteopath and Sports Scientist

Nematollah Beigizadeh

Physiotherapist

Sabine Christmann-Schaaf

Administrative management and medical assistant

News

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Champions League - 21.01.2026

Live blog: The Werkself away to Olympiacos ✈️🇬🇷

The fourth European away trip of the season in the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 takes the Werkself to the Greek capital. Head coach Kasper Hjulmand's team are away to Greek double winners Olympiacos on matchday seven in the UCL league phase. The match at the Karaiskakis Stadium is on Tuesday, 20 January (kick-off: 21:00 CET). We'll be taking you on a trip to Athens and reporting on the Werkself close-up...

Champions League - 20.01.2026

Matchday news #OLYB04: Looking for third UCL win

The Werkself are away to Greek double winners Olympiacos on matchday 7 in the league phase of the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League campaign. Tonight, 20 January (kick-off: 22:00 local time/21:00 CET), Bayer 04 will not only face a familiar face in Panagiotis Retsos, but also an experienced and successful team in their Greek top-flight opponents. The Olympiacos midfield and forward line in particular are peppered with seasoned veterans from top European clubs - but even they will first have to find solutions against the Werkself defence that has recently performed with aplomb in the UCL. The matchday news.

Champions League - 19.01.2026

Hjulmand ahead of #OLYB04: ‘Our philosophy is our weapon’

The Werkself are away to Greek double winners Olympiacos on matchday 7 of the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League league phase. Ahead of the clash on Tuesday, 20 January (kick-off: 21:00 CET), head coach Kasper Hjulmand spoke about anticipation for the game. Werkself player Ibrahim Maza also gave an insight into dealing with the recent setbacks.

Champions League - 19.01.2026

Our next opponents: Olympiacos will have to make do without overhead kick star

After their first win on matchday 6 in the UCL league phase, Olympiacos are still in with a good chance of reaching the play-offs in the UEFA Champions League. The 2024 UEFA Conference League winners will be looking to go one better in their home match against Bayer 04 this Tuesday, 20 January (kick-off: 21:00 CET), but their stop scorer is unavailable. The lowdown on our next opponents.

Bayer 04 - 18.01.2026

AFCON blog: Senegal win the tournament

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...

News centre

Videos

Werkself edged out 1-0 at Hoffenheim | 18th matchday

Werkself-TV - 17.01.2026

TV highlights of 0-1 loss at TSG Hoffenheim

Werkself TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04's 0-1 loss at TSG Hoffenheim on Matchday 18 of the 2025/26 Bundesliga season...

Die PK vor dem Auswärtsspiel in Sinsheim | 18. Spieltag

Werkself-TV - 16.01.2026

Hjulmand ahead of #TSGB04: ‘All the more fire and energy for Hoffenheim’

The Rückrunde is about to begin: The Werkself travel to TSG Hoffenheim on Saturday, 17 January (kick-off: 15:30 CET) on Bundesliga matchday 18. At the pre-match press conference on Friday lunchtime, head coach Kasper Hjulmand emphasised the double anticipation for the clash following Tuesday's postponement of the fixture at Hamburger SV. And he also talked about the tactical approach against an opponent on course for Champions League qualification.

Die PK vor dem Auswärtsspiel beim Hamburger SV | 17. Spieltag

Werkself-TV - 12.01.2026

Hjulmand ahead of #HSVB04: ‘Don't panic, stay calm and optimistic’

The Werkself are away to Hamburg SV at the end of the Hinrunde in the 2025/26 Bundesliga campaign. The match at the newly promoted club is on Tuesday night, 13 January (kick-off: 20:30 CET). Ahead of the first encounter with HSV since 2018, Kasper Hjulmand spoke about the strengths of the opponents, lessons learnt from the home defeat against VfB Stuttgart and provided a squad update.