The Werkself have clocked up victories in eleven out of 13 games in 2020. The record in detail: Peter Bosz’s team have won seven out of nine games in the Bundesliga with the others producing one draw and one defeat. Bayer 04 have progressed to the semi-finals of the DFB Cup, after a 2-1 win against VfB Stuttgart in the Round of 16 and a 3-1 win in the quarter-final tie against Union Berlin, where FC Saarbrücken are the opponents. It remains to be seen when the game will be played. And the Werkself are still in the running in the Europa League having knocked out FC Porto in the Round of 32 and have won the first leg of the Round of 16 tie against Glasgow Rangers.
In the currently paused Bundesliga, Bayer 04 are fifth in the table on 47 points – two behind Borussia Mönchengladbach, three behind RB Leipzig, four behind Borussia Dortmund and eight points behind league leaders Bayern Munich. By comparison: At the same point last term, the points the tally was 42 – five less than now.
A look at the second half of the season table underlines the fantastic start to 2020 for the Werkself – the team under head coach Peter Bosz (19 points) are in third place behind Bayern (22) and Dortmund (21).
The only defeat in 2020 for the Werkself came on Bundesliga matchday 20 against TSG Hoffenheim. Bayer 04 ended up losing 2-1 after Moussa Diaby scored the opening goal. Disappointing! But the only slip-up…
One key element of the good situation is, without doubt, Bayer 04’s brilliant home form. The Werkself are unbeaten at home this season. The Black and Reds have picked up seven out of a possible seven wins with the backing of their fans. Not a single point dropped! Fortress BayArena.
No question, Kai Havertz has not been as effective as usual in spite all of his commitment. In 21 games across all competitions, he was ‘only’ involved in four goals – three strikes and one assist. Since the start of the year, Havertz has rediscovered his previous fine form. Our number 29 has scored seven goals and provided seven assists since the winter break. He has three times as many goals and assists together than in the first half of the season.
Havertz achieved an historic achievement on matchday 25: The 20-year-old opened the scoring on four minutes in the 4-0 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt to clock up his 30th goal in the Bundesliga. At the age of 20 years and 270 days, he is the youngest player in the history of the Bundesliga to reach that number. The previous record holder, Klaus Fischer, was 15 days holder.
The 21-year-old central defender was signed from Vitoria Guimaraes in the winter break – and he is already a first-team regular. In the first two games after signing, the 6 foot 2 Tapsoba was on the bench but the 21-year-old played the full 90 minutes in his debut against Borussia Dortmund on 8 February and he has gone the full distance in eight games since. Only in the Europa League game in Glasgow was he substituted on 68 minutes. Peter Bosz is full of praise for the newcomer: “I don’t normally bring through players that quickly. You can’t believe he’s only been here for a few weeks.”
And it’s also going like clockwork for Moussa Diaby. Our summer signing has scored 04 goals and provided five assists in 2020. And it appears he has been inspired by the (impending) birth of his first child. His son was born on 28 February.
This man is not only up for having fun all the time but Lukas Hradecky is also an outstanding goalkeeper. The Finn with Slovakian roots has kept eight clean sheets in the Bundesliga this season, including three in 2020 – only Manuel Neuer (ten clean sheets, Bayern Munich) was better. In terms of saves, Hradecky (71.7 %) is the third best regular keeper with only Yann Sommer (75.4 %, Borussia Mönchengladbach) and Peter Gulacsi (72.4 %, RB Leipzig) performing better.
Four Bayer 04 players are in action at the 35th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations being played in Morocco from 21 December to 18 January 2026: Eliesse Ben Seghir for the hosts, Edmond Tapsoba with Burkina Faso, Ibrahim Maza for Algeria and Christian Kofane with Cameroon. Updates on the AFCON matches involving Werkself players...
Show more
Sustainability once again had many faces at Bayer 04 in 2025: In community activity, the club supported countless regional campaigns, including the Leverkusener Tafel, the Frauenennotruf Leverkusen e.V. and the homeless aid organisation "Kältegang". But the Black and Reds have also been involved in good causes around the world - including the Young Coaches training programmes in Uganda and Ecuador plus the Genuine World Cup in the USA, where the Inclusion Werkself competed. Bayer 04 was also fully committed to the environment and underwent external and independently certification in accordance with the European environmental management standard EMAS, for example, to analyse and optimise the club’s environmental efforts. Looking back at sustainability in 2025.
Show more
Two Saturdays, one Friday and one Sunday: The dates for the Bayer 04 Women's team games on matchdays 16 to 19 have been finalised. Three of the four matches scheduled by the German Football Association (DFB) on Tuesday will be played at home at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium.
Show more
Bayer 04 currently have a number of promising young talents on loan to various clubs in Europe with the aim of gaining match practice and furthering their individual development. Francis Onyeka and Farid Alfa-Ruprecht, for example, play for VfL Bochum 1848, while Artem Stepanov is a striker with 1. FC Nürnberg, coached by World Cup winner Miroslav Klose. Tim Oermann is a defender in the Austrian Bundesliga at top club SK Sturm Graz and Abdoulaye Faye is playing in France for FC Lorient, promoted to Ligue 1 this season. Bayer04.de reviews the first six months for the Leverkusen players out on loan.
Show more
