The ‘Diablos rojos’, the Red Devils, are at home 65 kilometres west of Mexico City in the city of Toluca with a population of 500,000. Deportivo Toluca FC have played a big part in the history of Mexican football: After being founded 105 years ago, the club was one of the founding members of the nationwide second division – the start of the success story for the central Mexican side.
The team with the red kit achieved promotion to the Primera Division, now called the Liga Clausura MX, just three years after entering the league. Toluca have remained in the top flight since then. In addition to finishing runners-up in 1957 and 1958 they achieved the long-awaited triumph in 1967: Deportivo were crowned champions of Mexico.
The Red Devils then went one better: Toluca defended their national title in the following season and also won the CONCACAF Champions Cup – to become the best team on the whole continent. Another league title followed in 1975 but then the fans had to wait a while for the next big success.
The late 1990s and the early 2000s are seen as the best years in the club’s history – and they are known today as the ‘época dorada’, the golden age. Toluca picked up titles like no other rival: Five league titles plus another cup triumph at the continental level came up to 2003. Further triumphs in 2005, 2008 and 2010 saw a brilliant decade completed with ‘La Décima’ – the tenth league title.
Toluca are the third most successful club in Mexico behind record champions Club América (13) and CD Guadalajara (12). But the Red Devils are currently a long way from competing with the leading duo: This season the big club are currently fifteenth in a league of 18 teams after 17 games.
The spotlight at Deportivo is primarily on the top scorer and provider Leonardo Fernández. The 23-year-old Uruguayan, signed from Tigres UANL in January, has scored seven goals and provided three assists in the previous 15 league matches. The left-footer is narrowly ahead in the club’s top scorer rankings and also in the list of the most successful providers.
Other key figures in the Toluca team are the four full internationals Claudio Baeza, Valber Huerta (both Chile), Braian Samudio (Paraguay) plus Haret Ortega (Mexico).
At the Estadio Nemesio Díez, Deportivo’s ground with a capacity of 30,000, a coach with huge experience will be sitting next to the Werkself head coach Gerardo Seoane:The 57-year-old Ignacio Ambriz took charge at Toluca at the start of the season at the turn of the year. However, his first long-term position as coach was not in Mexico but in Europe – in Spain to be more exact. The former player was assistant coach to Javier Aguirre (now at RCD Mallorca) at CA Osasuna from 2003 to 2006 and that was followed by three years together at Atlético Madrid.
Ambriz then returned to his home country where he led CF América to the South American title, Club Necaxa to be the Mexican cup winners as well as Club Léon FC to the Mexican league title.
Moreover: Toluca secured a goalless draw in a friendly against the top Spanish club Atlético Madrid in July 2017. In front of a crowd of over 20,000, Bayer 04 can gladly score one or two more goals…
The Werkself will play in their blue away kit at the Estadio Nemesio Díez. If there are no winners after 90 minutes then it will be a draw – there will be no penalty shootout. 21 players per team are permitted and there will be three substitution slots in addition to the half-time break. The referee is Adonai Escobedo. The 34-year-old Mexican officiates in the CONCACAF Champions Cup as well as the Mexican league.
This special event showed once again how strong Bayer 04 are as a team: As part of ‘BarmeniaGothaer gives joy’, the Werkself players Edmond Tapsoba, Ibrahim Maza and Christian Kofane supported the sale of individually designed T-shirts for a good cause at the Fanwelt on Thursday. Several hundred fans came to take part in the charity campaign. Leverkusen's main sponsor BarmeniaGothaer donated the proceeds to the Fondation Edmond Tapsoba, which helps people in Tapsoba's home country of Burkina Faso in their challenging everyday lives.
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With three games to play before the end of the season, the Bayer 04 Women can break one record and equal another at SGS Essen. After three wins on the bounce, coach Roberto Pätzold's team are aiming to maintain the chance of third place in Sunday’s away game (14:00 CEST, Stadion an der Hafenstraße).
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From Ouagadougou to Leverkusen – and back: in March, Bayer 04 travelled with Edmond Tapsoba for a special project in his homeland Burkina Faso. The country where his roots and heart lie. The country where he’s more than a world-class defender: a symbol of hope and a role model for an entire generation. The result is a 45-minute documentary about Tapsoba’s long journey from Africa via Portugal to Leverkusen, which offers extraordinary, one-off and emotional insights.
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Edmond Tapsoba has signed an early extension to his contract with Bayer 04 Leverkusen. With two years left on his current deal, the 27-year-old Burkina Faso international has extended his contract until 30 June 2031. The centre-back joined as a young talent from Portuguese top-flight club Vitoria Guimaraes at the start of 2020.
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A special surprise: during the preview for the 'Fierté Burkinabè' documentary about Edmond Tapsoba, Bayer 04 directors Fernando Carro and Simon Rolfes announced Tapsoba's contract extension until 2031 together with the centre-back. He then spoke to Werkself-TV about his time in Leverkusen so far and future ambitions...
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