The day after the 2-1 win in the DFB Cup Round of 16 tie against VfB Stuttgart, the Werkself training session on Thursday morning was aimed at recovery. Charles Aránguiz was back on the pitch but trained on his own. Julian Baumgartlinger (knock against Hoffenheim) and Sven Bender, who remained in the dressing room after the half-time break due to muscle problems against the team from Swabia, also missed out on the full training session. Exequiel Palacios, who made his debut for Bayer 04 last night, was also absent and he was particularly missed by the two assistant coaches of Argentina Wálter Samuel and Roberto Ayala as Lucas Alario was the only one of their two players at the training session. The Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni was at the cup tie at the BayArena last night to have a look at his players.
The participants for the DFB Cup quarter-finals were confirmed last night. In addition to the Werkself, the Bundesliga clubs Bayern Munich, Eintracht Frankfurt, Fortuna Düsseldorf, Schalke 04, Werder Bremen and Union Berlin plus the fourth division side FC Saarbrücken have qualified for the next round. The draw will be held at the German Football Museum in Dortmund on Sunday night at 18.00 CET and it will be made by former international Cacau who is currently working as the integration officer for the DFB. The DFB general secretary Friedrich Curtius will be in charge of the draw. ARD will broadcast the draw live on the Sportschau TV programme.
Once again it is time for Player of the Month and Kai Havertz has been nominated for the EA SPORTS January Player of the Month. The vote is made up of 40% from the fans plus 30% each from the Bundesliga clubs and selected pundits. The 20-year-old faces stiff competition: In addition to the Leverkusen player, Erling Haaland, Jadon Sancho (both Borussia Dortmund), Leon Goretzka, Robert Lewandowski and Ivan Perisic (all Bayern Munich) have been nominated as well.
You can vote for Havertz HERE.
Stefan Kießling is a guest on 'Doppelpass' on Sunday morning – one subject of the football talk show will definitely be the home game for the Werkself against Borussia Dortmund (Saturday, 8 February, 18.30 CET). The programme will be broadcast from 11.00 CET on the Sport 1 channel.
Newly promoted SV 07 Elversberg will begin the 2026/27 season as Bundesliga club number 59. The Saarland club start their first Bundesliga campaign at home to the Werkself on Saturday, 29 August (kick-off 15:30 CEST) at the URSAPHARM Arena on Kaiserlinde, which is currently being rebuilt. For one Leverkusen player in the ‘Elv’ line-up, the clash will be a special reunion. The lowdown on our next opponents.
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The fixture details for the Bayer 04 Women’s first match in the 2026/27 DFB Pokal has been confirmed: As announced by the German Football Association (DFB) on Thursday morning, the Leverkusen Women will face second-tier side FC Viktoria Berlin in the first round on Sunday 27 September at 14:00 CEST.
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Once again, well over 100 Werkself fans were delighted to receive an invitation from the club’s record appearance-maker, Rüdiger Vollborn, to the sold-out Schwadbud at the BayArena. This time, the supporters listened as the club historian provided fascinating, exclusive insights into the period from Bayer 04 being founded in 1904 to the club’s promotion to the Bundesliga in 1979. A journey through time is also planned for the upcoming ‘Rudi lädt ein’ event in early November – this time focusing on the years of the Nazi regime.
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Construction work on the ‘Haus der Talente’ or ‘Talent House’ in Leverkusen officially began on Wednesday, 26 August, with the customary ground-breaking ceremony. The new home for 36 young athletes aged between 14 and 18 is being built between the Löwenburg nursery and Elisabeth-Langgässer-Straße. This includes young footballers, as well as young people from other team sports, athletics and parasports. They will live together in residential groups under the supervision of teaching staff.
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