
Get a cold drink, make yourselves comfortable and click onto our Bayer 04 channel on YouTube. You’ll discover lots of entertaining and, above all, humorous Werkself output. With the ‘I know him’ feature, for example with Lars and Sven Bender, the players are tested on how well they know each other. Using posted texts, the duos of Kevin Volland & Ramazan ‘Rambo’ Özcan and Lukas Hradecky & Joel Pohjanpalo, guess which of their teammates’ Instagram accounts it is. There is also the ‘Black or Red?’ game where a number of Werkself players have difficulty deciding. What’s really tricky is, ‘What’s the question?’ – Jonathan Tah, Kai Havertz and Kerem Demirbay have already been under pressure.
Here’s a little taster of ‘04 wins’ with Nadiem Amiri and Karim Bellarabi – laughter guaranteed!
Leon Bailey und Moussa Diaby haben es selbst schon getestet: Das Werkself-Memory! Für 25 ausgewählte Schnappschüsse der Werkself gilt es das entsprechend gleiche Pärchenbild zu finden. Und das könnt ihr nun auch zu Hause spielen! HIER geht’s zur Online-Version. Wer lieber zu Hause mit „echten“ Karten spielt, kann sich die Memory-Karten auch einfach unter folgendem Download-Link herunterladen, zweimal ausdrucken und schon kann’s losgehen. Viel Spaß beim Spielen!
Team chef Alexander Wagner ensures the Werkself players get tasty and nutritious food, tailored to the needs of professional athletes, on their plates. But what dishes are there for Kevin Volland, Nadiem Amiri, Julian Baumgartlinger and Co.? Alex shows you! His ‘Pasta with chicken breast’ is possibly an inspiration for you to cook at home!? He shows you step-by-step how to do it and what you need:
Werkself podcast number 21 came out recently – Reiner Calmund was the guest this time round. The former mover and shaker at Bayer 04 was as we know him with one great comment after the next. This edition with ‘Calli’ and the previous 20 – including with Simon Rolfes, Ulf Kirsten, Stefan Kießling and Jonathan Tah –are available on the music and audio streaming platform Sound Cloud, popular podcast apps as well as on Spotify. A little tip: Subscribe to the Werkself podcast to make sure you don’t miss one:
https://soundcloud.com/werkself-podcast/
https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/werkself-podcast/
https://open.spotify.com/show/3bv7srLZjrGr4GBwtSVw1W
A variety of stories, an entertaining mix of current and historic subjects, interesting interviews and profiles plus much more – always focussed on Bayer 04: That’s the Werkself magazine. All editions are now available online (in German) HERE.



Sandwiched between their UEFA Champions League knockout play-off tie against Olympiacos, Bayer 04 return to Bundesliga action on Saturday with a trip to Union Berlin (kick-off: 15:30 CET). It’s a fixture of contrasting styles, with Leverkusen preferring to control the play while Union look to remain compact and counter. The Berliners are therefore suited to facing top teams, but they have only ever managed to win one of 16 meetings with the Werkself, who are looking for a fifth clean sheet of 2026 but will need to beware the home side’s threat from set pieces. Here’s all you need to know ahead of the game in our matchday news.
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After six wins in seven games, the Werkself will be looking to continue their winning run in the capital at FC Union Berlin. Coach Kasper Hjulmand spoke ahead of the match on Saturday, 21 February (kick-off: 15:30 CET) about defenders, the short preparation time and the condition of the pitch at the Stadion An der Alten Försterei.
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Union Berlin have performed particularly well against the top clubs in the Bundesliga this season with a draw at home to Bayern Munich and wins against VfB Stuttgart and RB Leipzig. This Saturday, 21 February (kick-off: 15:30 CET), the Irons now welcome the Werkself, currently sixth in the table, to the Stadion An der Alten Försterei. And the hosts are in desperate need of a win. The lowdown on our next opponents.
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It took exactly 60 minutes for the Werkself to take the lead through a perfectly finished counter-attack by Patrik Schick in the first leg of the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League play-off at Olympiacos. Referring to the meeting in the league phase and the initially squandered opportunities, coach Kasper Hjulmand said afterwards: "I thought: 'Oh no, déjà-vu.'" But after the opening goal, it took just 144 seconds for the Czech to spark more wild celebrations among those in black and red in the Greek cauldron, when Schick nodded in Alejandro Grimaldo's corner. Much to the delight of the Bayer 04 fans, his teammates and his coach, who had warm words for the striker in the aftermath. The Werkself Review.
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