The Black and Reds got off to a flying start in the Bundesliga campaign under head coach Reinhard Saftig. After 12 games, the Werkself were in second spot two points behind league leaders Bayern Munich. A dip in form followed with the first half of the season ending with Bayer 04 in sixth place. During the winter break, the then Bayer 04 general manager Reiner Calmund decided to bring in Dragoslav Stepanovic from Frankfurt as the new coach for the following season.
In the second half of the Bundesliga campaign, the Werkself picked up seven out of a possible 12 points (under the two points for a win rule) before facing Eintracht Frankfurt in the previously mentioned cup semi-final on 30 March. While the Hertha Berlin Amateurs surprisingly beat second division Chemnitz FC in the other semi-final, Bayer 04 and Eintracht Frankfurt were both in the top-flight. The team under head coach Saftig secured a convincing 3-0 victory over Eintracht who were then third in the table. The legendary front two of Ulf Kirsten and Andreas Thom (2) scored all three goals, to take the Werkself through to the final at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin.
Immediately after the game, the Eintracht coach Dragoslav Stepanovic resigned and was initially an adviser for his future employers Bayer 04. Five weeks later, general manager Calmund gave head coach Saftig his marching orders; Stepanovic took over the helm and the Werkself beat the Hertha Berlin Amateurs 1-0 – Kirsten scored the goal on 77 minutes – to lift the DFB Cup for the first time in the club's history.
Match stats from DFB Cup semi-final 1993:
Eintracht Frankfurt: Stein – Bindewald, Binz, Tskhadadze – Weber, Komljenovic (Studer 74'), Bein, Falkenmayer (Yeboah 72'), Bommer – Schmitt, Kruse
Bayer 04: Vollborn – Kree, Foda, Wörns – Stöver, Lupescu, Hapal, Fischer, von Ahlen (Scholz 67') – Thom, Kirsten (Tolkmitt 80')
Goals: 0-1 Thom (6’), 0-2 Kirsten (72’), 0-3 Thom (75’)
Referee: Manfred Harder
Booked: Tskhadadze, Schmitt – von Ahlen, Kirsten
Sent off: Bindewald (55.)
Attendance: 35,000 at Frankfurt's Waldstadion
The Leverkusen eSports team played the remaining three of the six matches in the online preliminary round of the fourth showdown in the VBL Club Championship 2025/26. RB Leipzig and SC Freiburg were among the teams with the highest goal threat, including two World Cup participants in their ranks. Although the #B04eSports players were defeated in the matches overall, nine points from the first three games last week were enough for Leverkusen to advance to the offline round in Berlin on 2 February.
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The VBL Club Championship 2025/26 continues. Tonight, 27 January (live on Twitch and on the Bayer 04 app from 18:00 CET), the Leverkusen eSports team will play the remaining three matches in the online preliminary round of Showdown Four. They are up against FC Kaiserslautern, SC Freiburg and the current club champions and Showdown Three winners RB Leipzig, with whom Bayer 04, club runners-up and Showdown One winners, shared some memorable moments, especially last year. The lowdown on our next opponents.
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