Setback for our number 11: Nadiem Amiri suffered a shoulder injury in the home game against the team from Berlin. The Germany international, who had to be substituted at half-time due to the injury, will now start rehab at the Werkstatt in the BayArena.
Amiri's teammate Karim Bellarabi was not only able to celebrate equalising at 1-1 and his assist to make it 3-1, but he was also named Man of the Match. With half of all the votes in the DFB poll, the 29-year-old came top ahead of Union’s Markus Ingvartsen and yesterday's Werkself captain Kai Havertz.
Bayer 04 fans shared that view on Twitter: Over 41% voted substitute Bellarabi as the Man of the Match. That put Bellarabi ahead of Charles Aránguiz (25.4%) and Moussa Diaby (23.4%). Goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky on Bellarabi's nomination: "He deserved to be the Man of the Match!"
After coming on for the second half, Werkself winger Moussa Diaby really shone in the DFB Cup quarter-final against Union Berlin. The new dad – his son Ismail is one week old – treated himself to the goal to make it 3-1 (90+1'). And a suitable celebration obviously had to follow (see photo).
An average of one million viewers (market share of 3.9%) watched the quarter-final game between the Werkself and Union Berlin on the free to air TV channel Sport1. At its peak, 1.4 million viewers switched on to Sport1. The highlights of the game on ARD at 23.00 CET were watched by 3.57 million viewers (market share of 20%).
Who the Werkself will play in the DFB Cup semi-finals will be revealed on Sunday night from 18.00 CET on the ARD Sportschau, which will be broadcast live from the German Football Museum in Dortmund. Bayer 04 goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky has expressed a wish for Germany women’s goalkeeper Almuth Schult who is making the draw: "Who do I want? Anyone but Bayern away." The Werkself and FC Bayern are joined in the draw by Bundesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt and Regional League FC Saarbrücken. The latter are the first fourth division side in a DFB Cup semi-final – and they will be at home.
The initial fear that the former Bayer 04 central defender Ömer Toprak had suffered a fracture of the fibula was happily not confirmed. The 30-year-old Werder Bremen defender was fouled by Filip Kostic (90+1') in last night’s 2-0 defeat in the DFB Cup quarter-final against Eintracht Frankfurt. The Serbian was sent off while Toprak was carried off the pitch on a stretcher. An exact diagnosis has been confirmed: The Turk suffered a lacerated and contused wound to his calf. Toprak made 203 appearances for the Black and Reds between 2011 and 2017. He scored seven goals and provided five assists along the way. Bayer 04 wish him a speedy recovery and a quick comeback.
The Werkself are back in action on Saturday, 7 March (kick-off: 15.30 CET) in a Bundesliga fixture against Eintracht Frankfurt: The BayArena will be bursting at the seams with the Werkself in such good form – and one or two goals appear guaranteed. At least if you believe the statistics: Eintracht Frankfurt and Bayer 04 have played each other 69 times in the Bundesliga and there has never been a 0-0 draw – a Bundesliga record.
Video game producer Electronic Arts (EA) has announced the nominees for the Men's and Women's Team of the Year (TOTY) for EA Sports FC 26. With Patrik Schick and Alejandro Grimaldo for the men and Vanessa Fudalla for the women, there are three Bayer 04 players included. Fans of the Black-and-Reds can vote for each top XI of 2025 from now until 18:59 CET on Monday 12 January.
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The Werkself host Mainz at the BayArena on matchday 24 in the 2025/26 Bundesliga season. The match is on Saturday, 28 February, at 15:30 CET. Information on ticket sales.
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The long-standing successful collaboration between Bayer 04 and the transport service provider wupsi GmbH has been expanded: From January 2026, 100 wupsi bikes with Bayer 04 branding will be available for hire throughout the city of Leverkusen. They will complement the many existing offers and services that provide key support, especially for fans travelling to and from home matches at the BayArena.
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The Werkself are back! Following the two-week winter break, head coach Kasper Hjulmand's team began the new year with an open session on Sunday. After Robert Andrich and his teammates arrived in Leverkusen yesterday for the official check-in, they got back down to business a day later in front of around 1,200 fans at the Ulrich Haberland Stadion. The report from the Werkself's first session of 2026.
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