
Hi kids,
A warm welcome back to the Lions Club. I've been one of you fair some two and a half years. Back then I was asked whether I wanted to be a sort of member of the Lions Club. I was the youngest player in the team at the time and a couple of people from Bayer 04 thought it would be a good match between me and the youngest Werkself fans.
They were right! They officially named me as patron and I've been to a couple of your events at Christmas parties and similar occasions. And I've seen how much fun you all have together. And not just with watching football. All the other things you do together would have given me great pleasure when I was your age. Just carry on, stick together and in you enjoy your time at Bayer. And, above all, cross your fingers for us to achieve our targets again this season.
At the end of the day that's the best thing there is. To be nervous, to hope and, finally, to celebrate with your club when they win. And you can also be sad if it doesn't work out. But not for long! Then you go again, looking forward to getting stuck into the next game.
According to the motto 'Strong Bayer – strong Lions'. I've just thought of that. Perhaps you can take it over for the future. With a motto like that then nothing can go wrong, can it?
So kids – to a good, strong as a lion rest of the season.
Yours Julian


Bayer 04 Leverkusen will have to manage without centre-back Edmond Tapsoba in the coming weeks. The Burkina Faso international returned to the Werkself from the Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco with a muscle injury.
Show more
Bayer 04 face Hamburger SV for the first time in almost eight years. Although the Hanseatic city team are often below par on the road, they are regularly in top form in front of their own fans. In particular, 18-year-old shooting star Luka Vuskovic is proving to be a real bonus for Merlin Polzin's team, both in attack and defence. However, that should not scare the Werkself: Not only was the last defeat against the newly promoted team 17 games ago, but Kasper Hjulmand's players are in with a chance of securing their fifth win in six games against HSV. Today’s matchday news.
Show more
Hamburger SV and Bayer 04 meet again in the Bundesliga for the first time in almost eight years. This Tuesday evening, 13 January (kick-off: 20:30 CET), the promoted team with impressive home form welcome the Werkself to the Volksparkstadion to round off the Hinrunde. The lowdown on our next opponents.
Show more
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.
Show more