Construction of the House of Talents begins in Leverkusen: new home for 36 young athletes expected to be ready in 2027
Construction work on the Haus der Talente, or House of Talents, project officially began in Leverkusen on 26 August 2026. The new residential, educational and developmental centre is intended for young elite athletes. The start of construction was marked by a symbolic groundbreaking ceremony on the site between the Löwenburg kindergarten and Elisabeth-Langgässer-Straße, where, after approximately one year of construction, accommodation for 36 female and male athletes aged 14 to 18 is expected to be created. According to information from Bayer 04, the facility will not be home only to young footballers but also to talents from other team sports, athletics, judo, fencing and parasport. The project has been conceived as much more than a traditional sports boarding school: accommodation, education, training, social support and the development of independence are intended to be connected within a single system. If construction proceeds according to plan, the first residents could move in during the summer of 2027.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen and TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen present the project as an important part of the long-term strategy for developing young athletes in a city that has had a well-developed infrastructure for elite sport for decades. Official Bayer 04 information states that, once completed, the House of Talents will be jointly operated through cooperation between the football company Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH and the sports club TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen. Particular attention is being given to young people who come to Leverkusen from other places for their sporting development and are not yet ready for fully independent living. Instead of viewing their development only through results in training and competitions, the project is based on the idea that school education, social skills, character, rest and everyday organisation are equally important parts of the path towards elite sport. This approach is intended to reduce the gap between the demands of sport and the needs of adolescents who are simultaneously going through education and growing up.
Group living with continuous educational support
A key part of the project will be the organisation of life in smaller residential groups. According to the concept that Bayer 04 coordinated with the responsible youth welfare office, each group will have permanent educators or mentors who will serve as the main points of contact for young people regarding matters outside sport. They will maintain regular communication with coaches, parents and youth welfare services, with the aim of avoiding a situation in which the sporting, educational and private parts of life function as completely separate systems. As in a family household, residents will have their own responsibilities for maintaining shared spaces and carrying out everyday household tasks. Alongside sporting habits, this is intended to develop independence, responsibility, reliability and the ability to live together.
Simon Rolfes, sporting managing director of Bayer 04, emphasises in connection with the project that preparation for a career in elite sport cannot end with physical and technical training. According to him, the continuous development of the educational, social and personal abilities of young athletes is one of the prerequisites for sustainable sporting success. Bayer 04 therefore sees the House of Talents as an infrastructural addition to the existing development system, but also as a means of attracting young athletes and their families to Leverkusen. On the official project page, the club states that it wants to create a family-structured environment for young people who live far away from their parents. The idea is not merely to provide a bed and transport to training, but to create a place where life between school, sport and leisure can be organised more steadily than in temporary or fragmented forms of accommodation.
The project connects football, athletics, team sports and parasport
One of the distinctive features of the House of Talents is that it has not been designed exclusively for football. Bayer 04 states in its official information that the residents will also include young athletes from other team disciplines, athletics, judo, fencing and parasport. Living together with athletes from different disciplines is part of the educational concept, because exchanging experiences is intended to give young people a perspective beyond their own training, team or competition system. Anne Wingchen, managing director of TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen, particularly emphasises this idea of mutual learning among athletes who face different types of pressure, training and sporting careers. In this way, the project seeks to bring together elements that are often organisationally separated in everyday elite sport.
The inclusion of parasport has not been conceived merely as a symbolic element. According to Bayer 04, each residential group will have a room adapted for wheelchair users, while interaction between athletes and para-athletes from different disciplines is explicitly envisaged within the concept of communal living. In this way, inclusion is built into the organisation of the accommodation itself rather than being treated as a separate programme. This is particularly relevant for Leverkusen given the long tradition of TSV Bayer 04 in athletics and parasport, as well as the existing athlete development system through Sportinternat Leverkusen. Official information from the boarding school states that young athletes are already supported by an interdisciplinary network of teachers, social educators, coaches, psychologists, doctors and physiotherapists.
The new model builds on the existing Sportinternat Leverkusen
The House of Talents is not being created outside the existing system, but as an extension of it. Sportinternat Leverkusen was founded in 1995 and, according to TSV information, is not a traditional boarding school in which all athletes permanently live in one building. Some young people currently stay in shared sports housing or with host families, while educational and pedagogical support is organised through the existing network in the city. The House of Talents introduces an additional model primarily for underage athletes who need more structured everyday care. The city's planning documentation describes the project precisely as a third accommodation option, alongside host families and more independent shared sports housing.
Such a structure is important because of the dual burden faced by young elite athletes. They must simultaneously attend classes, take exams and fulfil school obligations, and then train almost every day and travel to matches or competitions. Sportinternat Leverkusen already provides assistance in coordinating school and sports schedules, individual tuition, educational planning, transport, nutrition and other areas. The House of Talents is intended to complement this system with a full-day living environment in which professional staff will also be available outside the time spent at school or at the sports centre. For parents of underage athletes, this means a more clearly defined care structure, while clubs gain a system in which problems at school, in everyday life or in adapting to a new environment can be identified earlier.
The location was selected because of its proximity to schools and sports facilities
The building is being constructed between the Löwenburg kindergarten and Elisabeth-Langgässer-Straße, in a green area that is at the same time relatively close to the centre of Leverkusen. Bayer 04 states that one of the main reasons for selecting the location was the accessibility of partner schools and sports facilities, so that young people can complete as much of their daily travel as possible by bicycle or public transport. The aim is to reduce dependence on organised transport and give young people greater independence in travelling between school, accommodation and training. According to official project information, only a limited number of vans for transport to sports locations is expected in the afternoons. Vehicle access is planned via Kurtekottenweg and a new access road, rather than through the residential streets Elisabeth-Langgässer-Straße and Bertha-von-Suttner-Straße.
The location was selected after several alternatives had been considered. Bayer 04 states that one site considered at Fritz-Jacobi-Anlage was unavailable and too small, while Kurt-Rieß-Anlage was ruled out because of its proximity to the A1 motorway and planned future motorway construction work. The possibility of accommodation in a hotel was also considered, but was assessed as unsustainable from an operational and economic perspective. The selected site therefore had to meet the requirements of safety, mobility, education, sport and the possibility of creating a stable residential environment at the same time. Bayer 04 additionally stresses that integrating the young residents into the existing residential surroundings is important so that the facility has the character of a home rather than an isolated sports complex.
Timber construction, green roofs and a photovoltaic system
The architectural concept was designed by Bernd Oxen, and the project has been conceived as a sustainable timber building with a high proportion of green areas. According to Bayer 04's official description, the residential sections will feature green façades created with climbing plants and timber structures supporting their growth. The roofs will be greened and equipped with a photovoltaic system, while a heat pump will be used for heating and hot water preparation. Rainwater is intended to be retained and absorbed entirely on the site through specially designed infiltration depressions, while native woody species will be prioritised in the landscaping. The combination of these solutions is intended to reduce the need for conventional rainwater drainage and mitigate the environmental impact of the new building.
Bayer 04 also states that the nearby renaturalised inland dune will not be affected by construction. The areas between Kurtekottenweg and the House of Talents are planned as grassland and compensation areas, while the city's planning documentation states that interventions affecting soil, nature and the landscape are to be compensated for within the project area and on associated sites. Planning documents also specify that the residential section of the building lies outside the zone in which special restrictions connected with Seveso rules on industrial risks apply, while the access route, parking areas and forecourt are partly located within planning zone 2. A special protection concept for exceptional incidents is planned for that section. Environmental and safety considerations were therefore not limited only to the architectural design but were also part of the spatial planning and permitting process.
Multi-year process and involvement of the neighbourhood
Before construction began, the project went through several years of planning and public procedures. Bayer 04 states that it has been in contact with future neighbours for almost three years and that five public meetings were held at which the plans were presented and comments collected. According to the club, one concrete result of that dialogue was the choice of traffic access, which is intended to avoid placing additional pressure on the surrounding residential streets and the Löwenburg kindergarten car park. During construction, trucks are also currently expected to access the site via Kurtekottenweg, with a special safety concept for construction traffic. The modular construction method and high degree of prefabrication of building components are expected to shorten the construction period and reduce disruption for surrounding residents.
City documents show that the planning procedure also included an additional administrative phase. Leverkusen City Council adopted the plan on 7 July 2025, but it did not become legally effective at that time because the required availability of the land to the project developer had not yet been demonstrated. According to city documentation, that condition was secured in September 2025, after which the plan was resubmitted to the appropriate procedure. Bayer 04 announced on 19 May 2026 that the city administration had meanwhile issued the building permit. With construction beginning on 26 August, the project thus moved from a multi-year planning and permitting phase into physical construction.
The House of Talents as part of a broader sports development strategy
For Bayer 04, the project also has a clear strategic dimension. At the same time, the club is working on broader infrastructure plans for professional and youth football and describes the House of Talents as one of the key elements of its long-term development. In the competition for young athletes, not only the sporting programme is important, but also the quality of life that the club and city can offer families deciding where an underage athlete will continue his or her development. Accommodation, educational support and safety are often just as important as the quality of coaches or the training centre. The project could therefore become an important factor in attracting talent, although its true value will depend on the quality of everyday work after it opens.
Leverkusen Mayor Stefan Hebbel stated on the project's official page that the House of Talents further strengthens Leverkusen as a sporting centre, while TSV management emphasises the connection between different sports and the development of young people beyond the boundaries of an individual discipline. This broader view is important because only a small proportion of teenagers in any elite sports system will ultimately achieve a long-term professional career. Education, social skills and the ability to function independently therefore remain lasting values regardless of sporting outcomes. The House of Talents will be relevant not only because of the number of athletes it can accommodate, but also because of how successfully it can combine an ambitious sporting programme with the normal needs of young people.
The House of Talents in numbers
- 36 young female and male athletes
- age of residents: 14 to 18 years
- 9,102 square metres of site area
- 1,579 square metres of usable floor area
- 15 square metres per single room
- 21 bicycle parking spaces
- planned duration of the main construction phase: approximately one year
- planned move-in: summer 2027, if construction proceeds according to the planned schedule
The start of construction on 26 August therefore represents an important milestone for a project that has gone through spatial planning, public consultations, coordination with the neighbourhood and the building permit procedure in recent years. The next phase will be a practical test of whether the ambitious concept can be turned into a functional everyday home for 36 young athletes. If deadlines are met, Leverkusen is expected to gain a new form of sports accommodation from the summer of 2027, combining educational care, school support, inclusion and elite sport. The existing tradition of Sportinternat Leverkusen is not being abolished, but rather expanded with a model intended especially for those who need a stronger structure in everyday life during adolescence. The quality of this daily support, more than the new building itself, will ultimately determine the long-term significance of the House of Talents.
Sources:
- Bayer 04 Leverkusen – official Haus der Talente project page, concept, location, sustainability, neighbourhood, access and planned deadlines (link)
- Bayer 04 Leverkusen – announcement of 19 May 2026 on the building permit, capacity, project contents and planned move-in date (link)
- City of Leverkusen, Ratsinformationssystem – documentation for spatial plan V 40/I, procedure, purpose, environmental and safety conditions and land status (link)
- TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen – official information on Sportinternat Leverkusen, the existing accommodation model and the system of educational, pedagogical and professional support (link)