The Werkself started training this week on Monday afternoon without Sven Bender: The Bayer 04 number five picked up a foot injury in Saturday's 3-0 win in the friendly at Sportfreunde Siegen and is likely to be out of action for a couple of days. In contrast, there was positive news for Dominik Kohr who completed two one-on-one sessions on the training ground with fitness coach Daniel Jouvin on Monday following his knee injury – the 24-year-old may return to full training in the next few days. The same applies to Panos Retsos who will have a carbon splint fitted on Tuesday after his metacarpal fracture – he is due to return to full training at the training camp in Zell am See.
The Kicker sports journal has reviewed and ranked the Bundesliga pros for last season. The rankings for the positions of central defence and goalkeeper were published in today's edition (#60): In the view of the editors, Jonathan Tah achieved fifth place in the 'International class' for his number of challenges and ability to start moves. And his fellow defender Sven Bender (fifteenth) was ranked in the 'Up and coming' group. A total of 18 players qualified. Amongst the goalkeepers, Bernd Leno also finished in the 'Up and coming' group in ninth position. The shot-stopper has moved on to Arsenal to take on a new challenge in the Premier League. His successor in goal for the Werkself, the former Eintracht Frankfurt keeper, Lukas Hradecky, was the sixth-best goalkeeper in the Bundesliga according to Kicker. Congratulations to all 04!
It's common knowledge that there are a number of motor sport fans at the Werkself. After Lars and Sven Bender went to the Austrian Grand Prix in July, Benny Henrichs and Jonathan Tah used their day off on Sunday to go and watch Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton and Co. in the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim. The Bayer 04 defenders met up with a number of guests including World Champion Nico Rosberg, Germany striker Timo Werner and celebrity photographer Paul Ripke.
Werkself pro Leon Bailey had an exclusive media session at the Fritz-Jacobi-Halle in Leverkusen-Manfort. At the end of March, he was able to witness the unconventional training methods used by sprinter Gina Lückenkemper – also in relation to the forthcoming German Championships for the TSV Bayer Leverkusen athlete. After the 21-year-old successfully defended her 100-metre national title at the weekend, the Werkself number nine sent his congratulations to the athlete. The super fast Jamaican wished the top German sprinter every success at the European Championships in Berlin (7 to 12 August) in a video message.
The Werkself face fourth tier Wuppertaler SV in the third pre-season friendly tomorrow. The game at the Stadion am Zoo (Hubertusallee 4, 42117 Wuppertal) kicks off at 19.00 CET. As in Saturday's game against Siegen, Bayer 04 TV will again broadcast the match live on bayer04.de and the Werkself Facebook page. In addition, the Social Media section will be there to report via the usual club streams.
Just twelve days after the head-to-head in the league, the Bayer 04 Women again entertain Turbine Potsdam at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium. In contrast to the 3-0 win on Bundesliga Matchday 9, this time it is not about picking up three points. On Friday, 22 November (kick-off: 18.00 CET) it is all about going through to the quarter-finals in the DFB Pokal. Werkself TV will broadcast the match live and exclusively via a free stream.
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The brand-new Bayer 04 Fanzone in the South Stand at the BayArena has opened for all Werkself fans. The official launch of the 700 square metre plus state-of-the-art interactive shopping and world of experience on Wednesday afternoon followed an exclusive event the night before. The symbolic starting shot was made by special honoured guests before several hundred fans were able to gain their first impressions of the numerous products and interactive facilities – and the response has been very positive.
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Twelve Werkself players have been selected for their national teams in the final international break of the year, with the Leverkusen's international players competing in the final group matches in the UEFA Nations League, in qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup or the Africa Cup of Nations. We round up all the results involving Bayer 04 players here.
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Five players in the Bayer 04 Women squad have been selected for the Germany U23s for two international fixtures. That was announced by the German Football Association (DFB) on Tuesday afternoon.
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Bayer 04’s Bundesliga game at home to St. Pauli on Saturday, 7 December will be the next district matchday of the season, with the district of Hitdorf being the stage for numerous activities in the week building up to the fixture against the promoted side.
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