Bayer Leverkusen provided a group of students from the University of Wuppertal with exclusive insights into its sustainability management. The visit to the BayArena focused on sustainable fan mobility, placing the club's own WERKSELFgo rideshare portal at the centre of discussions.
The interdisciplinary student group were guests as part of a master's seminar on 'Sport as a field of transformation: sustainable fan mobility in professional football'. After a stadium tour, participants exchanged ideas with the Werkself's sustainability team about structural integration and practical challenges. A stimulating dialogue revolved around the question of how the club can make its supporters' travel habits more environmentally friendly.
Bayer 04's sustainability team presented WERKSELFgo as a key approach. The portal is designed to help fans form car pools for travel to and from matches. Additionally, the club regularly collects data through mobility surveys to better understand travel behaviour. "The direct exchange offered the opportunity to provide insights and take on new perspectives," the club said. The students also contributed their own ideas for greener travel.
Beyond fan mobility, the guests were given insight into other tools of the club's sustainability management. These include the double materiality analysis and the club's new sustainability report. These instruments help Bayer 04 strategically prioritise ecological and social topics and report on them transparently. The double materiality analysis considers both the impact of sustainability topics on the club and the club's impact on society and the environment.
The visit coincided with an intense period in the first team's fixture list, as they face Bayern Munich in a Bundesliga top-of-the-table clash on Saturday. The Werkself currently leads the standings by two points. Against the backdrop of the upcoming European home match against Besiktas Istanbul on 10 December, sustainable solutions for spectator influx remain a perennial topic. The next opportunity for home fans to see the team live is the DFB-Pokal round of 16 match against RB Leipzig on 2 December at the BayArena. Information on all upcoming matches can be found on the fixtures page.
The exchange with the Wuppertal students highlighted the club's ongoing work on this future-oriented issue. The seminar at the University of Wuppertal is led by Professor Dr. Michael-Burkhard Piorkowsky, who described the excursion as a valuable addition to the theoretical work in the seminar room. The club emphasised its interest in such cooperations with academia to discuss and further develop practical approaches.
