Bayer 04 have therefore decided, in the interests of health protection, that all the club's home games – including the women's and youth team fixtures – plus the first team training sessions will be held behind closed doors with immediate effect.
The City of Leverkusen issued an order banning all events for over 1,000 people on 12 March until further notice. Events with less than 1,000 people attending can take place under certain circumstances. The organiser must keep a list of the names, addresses and telephone numbers for each participant. In addition, visitors from areas categorised as risk areas by the Robert Koch Institute at the time of the event will not be able to attend.
Against this background and in the interests of health protection and the protection of everybody involved, Bayer 04 Leverkusen have decided to play all the club's home games behind closed doors until further notice. In addition to Werkself fixtures at the BayArena, that also applies to games for the women's team and the youth teams at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium and the Kurtekotten Academy. Furthermore, all the first-team training sessions will also be held behind closed doors with immediate effect.
It was another incredibly close call in the end: The second showdown in the 2026/27 VBL Club Championship saw the #B04eSports team once again narrowly miss out on a place in the top 16 of the preliminary round – and with it, a spot in the in-person knockout stage. It was a bitter blow: Marc and Sean Landwehr again fell just short, despite being level on points with their rivals. As was the case last month, their weaker record across the twelve individual matches in the six preliminary round fixtures proved decisive.
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“They stuck with us over the past few weeks when things weren’t going so well,” said captain Edmond Tapsoba, thanking the fans for their support after the 2–1 win in Cologne and dedicating the derby victory to them. Throughout the 90 minutes, the Werkself had looked unfazed and in command, inflicting the first home defeat of the season on FC Köln. It was the sixth consecutive win against the Cologne team for Bayer 04 – head coach Carles Martínez, on the other hand, was facing the team from the neighbouring city for the first time and “now really knows what this derby win means”. The Werkself derby review.
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Following the 2–1 derby victory away at FC Köln on Bundesliga matchday 9, Edmond Tapsoba, Malik Tillman and Aleix Garcia spoke to Werkself TV...
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Werkself TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04's 2-1 derby win at 1. FC Köln Matchday 9 of the 2026/27 Bundesliga season...
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There were celebrations among those in black and red at the RheinEnergieSTADION. On Matchday 9 of the 2026/27 Bundesliga season, the Werkself beat 1. FC Köln 2-0 and registered their sixth successive win in the derby. Aleix Garcia put Bayer 04 in front after just seven minutes with a direct free kick. Leverkusen played with discipline and energy after that and didn't allow some fierce challenges to unsettle them. Patrik Schick made it 2-0 in the 86th minute, and Said El Mala's goal in stoppage time for Köln proved nothing more than consolation. Jonas Hofmann crowned the derby win with his 100th appearance for the club.
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