During the summer break, Leon Bailey attended a birthday party for Ussain Bolt in his home country. The star sprinter tested positive for coronavirus shortly after that and the Werkself player then had to spend two weeks in self-isolation as a contact. But Bailey is now finally back on the pitch at the BayArena – and he clearly appears to be happy about that:
The Werkself – logically without Bailey in the squad – started the Bundesliga season with a 0:0 draw at VfL Wolfsburg. While the Wolves had the upper hand in terms of shots on goal (nine) compared with the Black and Reds (seven), the Werkself had more completed passes (82%) and also more possession (59%). However, neither side were able to score on Sunday night – for the first time in the 47th competitive meeting between VfL and Bayer 04.
Due to the first international break of the season, the Bayer 04 Women did not have a game at the weekend. In contrast, there was action at Kurtekotten: The U19s suffered a narrow 1-0 defeat against Borussia Mönchengladbach. The Leverkusen U17s picked up a point away to Fortuna Köln in a 2-2. The other youth results from the weekend are available HERE.
In the morning instead of the evening: Pay-TV channel Sky will now broadcast its football show Sky90 at 11.30 CET in the new Bundesliga season. In addition to the slot, the format will in future also be broadcast on free TV on Sky Sport News. The Werkself could be under discussion next Sunday, 27 September. Head coach Peter Bosz and his players are at home to RB Leipzig at the BayArena the day before at 15.30 CET.
It was the biggest triumph in his career as a professional footballer: In his first season at Bayer 04, Andrzej Buncol celebrated winning the UEFA Cup with the Werkself in 1988. The Pole spent five years at Leverkusen playing in over 120 games. After hanging up his boots in 1997 he went into coaching. Buncol has been youth coach at Bayer 04 for over a decade and the players he helped to develop at Kurtekotten include Kai Havertz. He is 61 today. Bayer 04 wish him a very happy birthday.
The fixture details for the Round of 16 ties in the 2025/26 DFB Pokal have been finalised. Accordingly, Bayer 04's away match at Borussia Dortmund will be played on Tuesday, 2 December, at 21:00 CET. This was announced by the German Football Association (DFB) today (Thursday).
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Bayer 04 picked up their first three points in the current Champions League campaign on matchday 4 in the league phase with a courageous and determined display in a 1-0 win at Benfica (1:0). "It was a hugely important win," said coach Kasper Hjulmand after the game, paying tribute to his players for their battling performance right to the end. The Werkself defended resolutely right to the end and kept out off shot after shot. Keeper Mark Flekken said: "We were determined to get these three points and gave everything we had on the pitch!" Read on for more reaction plus the facts and stats on the away win at the Portuguese record champions in the Werkself review.
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The second European away game takes the Werkself to the Portuguese capital Lisbon. Kasper Hjulmand's team will face record champions Benfica on Wednesday, 5 November (kick-off: 20:00 GMT, 21:00 CET) on matchday 4 in the league phase of the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League. As usual, we will take you along on the #aCROSSeurope journey and report from Lisbon. The times given are Central European Time.
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Werkself TV shows highlights of the 1-0 win for Bayer 04 at Benfica on matchday 4 in the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 league phase...
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The Werkself beat Benfica 1-0 on Matchday 4 of the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League league phase to seal three crucial points! Both teams had promising chances in the first half, but the contest was goalless at half-time. Substitute Patrik Schick headed in to score the only goal after the restart (65’). The home side went looking for an equaliser but Bayer 04 defended passionately to see out the storm.
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