After his left-foot shot into Manuel Neuer's net, the 22-year-old Jamaican turned to the corner flag and held up his fingers in the shape of a W. The reason behind the celebration is the song with the same name, W by Bailey's fellow compatriot and rapper Mikayla 'Koffee' Simpson. The lyric is about forgetting L for losing and instead choosing W for winning. "I very much like the song and the message behind it. That's why I celebrated like that," explained Bailey.
It's the record goalscorer's birthday. Ulf Kirsten scored 182 goals in 350 games for the Werkself – and that is the club record to date at Bayer 04. The striker played for Leverkusen for 13 years winning the DFB Cup in 1993 and losing the Champions League final against Real Madrid. Kirsten was the top scorer in the Bundesliga in 1992/93 (20 goals), 1996/97 and 1997/98 (22 goals both times). He hung up his boots in 2003 and then coached the Bayer 04 reserves for six years. The 'Schwatte' still plays for the Veterans team. Congratulations, Ulf!
As part of the first DFB leadership trip to the USA, the representatives from the Bundesliga club visited the Facebook HQ in Silicon Valley and the stadium of the San Francisco 49ers. Simon Rolfes, sporting director at Bayer 04: "I welcome the initiative of the DFB. In order to ensure the best possible future for German football, we definitely need to think outside the box." Tomorrow, the delegation – with plenty of new knowledge – will set off back to Germany.
Last weekend, Julian Baumgartlinger was not only able to celebrate victory against Bayern Munich but also his 200th appearance in Germany's top flight. The Austrian has made 76 appearances for Bayer 04. We say: Congratulations, Baumi!
It was one of the crucial incidents in the Bundesliga stunner for the Werkself at FC Bayern (final score: 2-1). A diagonal ball from Serge Gnabry, just before the half-time whistle, left Ivan Perisic with a tap-in into an empty net – however, the Werkself skipper Lars Bender made a last-ditch sliding tackle and was able to clear the danger. Bayer 04 went into the break with a 2-1 lead and the rest is history. His timely intervention has earned Bender a TOPPS NOW card with the title 'The Goal Saver'.
With the 400th addition of the football broadcast 'Zeigler's wonderful world of football' (WDR), a range of contemporaries congratulated presenter Arnd Zeigler with a video message. And the well-wishers also included the lads from the Werkself Radio – and there were also two surprise guests: Freddy Radeke and Jakob Leube, the presenters of 'Wumms! The Sports Show,' were also on the pitch at the BayArena. The latter congratulated Zeigler with a send up of Christian Streich.
The Werkself are away to VfL Wolfsburg on Bundesliga Matchday 21. The game at the Volkswagen Arena will be played on Saturday, 8 February with the kick-off at 15.30 CET. The latest information on ticket sales.
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An honour for Granit Xhaka: The Werkself player and Switzerland record appearance maker has been voted Swiss Player of the Year 2024 at the fourth Swiss Football Night on Monday 13 January. At the event organised by the Swiss Football Association (SFV) and the Swiss Football League (SFL) it was the third award in succession for Xhaka.
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Mainz 05 have carried on where they left off before the winter break. With their victory over VfL Bochum, the team from Rheinhessen continue their run in the Bundesliga and they will come to the BayArena in confident mood on Tuesday, 14 January (kick-off: 20.30 CET). At the same time, the team in fifth place will have to manage without a former Werkself player who has long been a key performer at Mainz. The lowdown on our next opponents.
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He helped shape Bayer 04 for almost two decades. First from 1998 to 2004 as the commercial managing director, then from 2013 as the spokesperson for the board and finally from 2017 as a member of the shareholders committee. Wolfgang Holzhäuser today celebrates his 75th birthday.
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