Bayer Leverkusen’s head coach speaks on extended breaks for AFCON players and severe winter weather in Germany: “Not bad by Danish standards.” | OneFootball

Bayer Leverkusen head coach Kasper Hjulmand spoke on a variety of topics ahead of a tough Bundesliga test for his club this weekend. Hjulmand’s Werkself get the new 2026 calendar year rolling with a very difficult league fixture against VfB Stuttgart on Saturday. Hjulmand’s squad continues to deal with the handicap of the ongoing 2025 AFCON. 

Leverkusen lost the highest number of footballers to this year’s Africa Cup of Nations. Despite the fact that many African internationals are once again eligible to play for their clubs after the elimination of their countries, many players have been granted an extended leave after the grueling tournament. This counts as especially relevant as many Bundesliga clubs themselves face punishing January schedules.

Eintracht Frankfurt, for example, would have been very keen to welcome Tunisia’s Ellyes Skhiri back after his team bowed out of the tournament in the Round-of-16. SGE head coach Dino Toppmöller nevertheless confirmed that Skhiri would be given a full week off following a demanding tournament in which Skhiri logged maximum minutes. Skhiri went the full 120 minutes in Tunisia’s ultimate exhausting shootout loss to Mali. 

On Friday, Hjulmand confirmed that the same would apply to Burkina Faso international Edmond Tapsoba. The Leverkusen centre-back also logged maximum minutes for his Burkinabé Stallions. The 26-year-old is simply beat after a tiring ordeal which began with him scoring the game-winning goal for his country in the opening group stage fixture against Equatorial Guinea at 90+8 and ended in a Round-of-16 defeat against Cote d’Ivoire.

Tapsoba may miss 3-4 of Leverkusen’s next games. One assumes that the same applies to other players such as certified AFCON star Christian Kofane, who whose Cameroonian national team was eliminated by hosts Morocco in this evening’s quarterfinal fixture. Kofane’s fellow AFCON star Ibrahim Maza of Algeria may be in for an extended break as well. 

Hjulmand on his AFCON representatives

“Of course, as a coach, I want my players back as soon as possible,” Hjulmand said on Friday. “But the data tells us what to do with load management. That’s one thing. The second thing has to do with the mental state of the players. They’ve had no rest from December onwards. The physical and mental load needs to be taken into account.“

Hjulmand on the weather forcing Bundesliga cancellations

As inclement weather grips the Bundesrepublik, Leverkusen may actually end up being the third team to cancel their 2026 Bundesliga restart fixture this weekend. When a reporter asked Hjulmand what he thought of the severe winter storm headed his way tomorrow affected his training and preparation, the former Denmark national team head coach could only laugh off the question. 

“I don’t think it will be that bad,” Hjulmand answered. “I’m from Denmark. It’s much worse [up there].”

GGFN | Peter Weis