The pitch at the BayArena, recently in receipt of an award from the German Football League (DFL), should be in perfect condition for the start of the Bundesliga campaign on 24-26 August particularly given the additional wear and tear associated with the group stage of the Europa League kicking off in ten weeks time on 20 September. The pitch is currently recovering after last Friday's Germany v Saudi Arabia friendly.
Work on the playing surface will soon start: Following a close cut on Tuesday, the pitch will be scarified on Wednesday with a large number of big, deep holes created on the surface. "The turf becomes compacted over time through heavy use and intense care and cutting programmes. This process makes the soil more permeable and the grass receives more air leading to improved growth," explained the Bayer 04 head groundsman Georg Schmitz. In the coming weeks, Georg and his ten-man team will be hard at work on the pitch: reseeding, mowing, fertilising and observing on a daily basis. The aim is clear: The BayArena pitch has to meet the high demands of Bayer 04 and , literally, be the basis for a successful new campaign at Leverkusen.
The neighbouring Ulrich Haberland Stadium has looked like a building site since Monday. A new, fibre-reinforced grass pitch is due to be laid in the next few weeks.
This special event showed once again how strong Bayer 04 are as a team: As part of ‘BarmeniaGothaer gives joy’, the Werkself players Edmond Tapsoba, Ibrahim Maza and Christian Kofane supported the sale of individually designed T-shirts for a good cause at the Fanwelt on Thursday. Several hundred fans came to take part in the charity campaign. Leverkusen's main sponsor BarmeniaGothaer donated the proceeds to the Fondation Edmond Tapsoba, which helps people in Tapsoba's home country of Burkina Faso in their challenging everyday lives.
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With three games to play before the end of the season, the Bayer 04 Women can break one record and equal another at SGS Essen. After three wins on the bounce, coach Roberto Pätzold's team are aiming to maintain the chance of third place in Sunday’s away game (14:00 CEST, Stadion an der Hafenstraße).
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Rüdiger Vollborn has been at the club for 40 years, he holds the record number of Bundesliga appearances for the club (401) and is the only Bayer 04 player to have won both the UEFA Cup (1988) and the DFB Pokal (1993). And the Berliner stayed with the Werkself after ending his impressive playing career as he worked as a goalkeeping coach for the following nine years. Vollborn now works under the Bayer Cross as a fan liaison officer and club archivist. Since February 2021, the personalised Black and Red lexicon takes Werkself fans under the heading of 'Rudi recounts...' on a brief trip through the history of Bayer 04 every month…
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From Ouagadougou to Leverkusen – and back: in March, Bayer 04 travelled with Edmond Tapsoba for a special project in his homeland Burkina Faso. The country where his roots and heart lie. The country where he’s more than a world-class defender: a symbol of hope and a role model for an entire generation. The result is a 45-minute documentary about Tapsoba’s long journey from Africa via Portugal to Leverkusen, which offers extraordinary, one-off and emotional insights.
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Edmond Tapsoba has signed an early extension to his contract with Bayer 04 Leverkusen. With two years left on his current deal, the 27-year-old Burkina Faso international has extended his contract until 30 June 2031. The centre-back joined as a young talent from Portuguese top-flight club Vitoria Guimaraes at the start of 2020.
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