Sven Jablonski has been appointed to oversee this match. The 32-year-old has previously taken charge of 10 games involving Leverkusen, which have produced seven Bayer 04 wins, a draw and two defeats. His assistants are Sascha Thielert and Lasse Koslowski. Daniel Siebert is the VAR.
A total of 871 fans are making the journey from Leverkusen to cheer on the team at the Red Bull Arena in Leipzig.
Leipzig have lost just two of the 12 Bundesliga encounters with the Werkself, scoring in every game. However, Bayer 04 won the last meeting 3-1 in Leipzig last season. But Die Roten Bullen have been very good on their own patch this team, leading the Bundesliga’s home table with 13 points and a +10 goal difference. Marco Rose is the first RB coach to win his first three Bundesliga home games in charge.
However, his fourth game at the helm at the Red Bull Arena is against Leverkusen, against whom the 46-year-old has suffered the most losses (four, same as vs. Leipzig and Bayern) and conceded the most goals (17, same as vs. Bayern) of any team he’s faced in the Bundesliga. His last encounter with the Werkself produced a 5-2 home loss in charge of Borussia Dortmund in February. That’s also the only time one of his teams has conceded five times in a Bundesliga home game.
Our opponents have got back towards their best under Rose, even ending Real Madrid’s 16-game unbeaten run during the week with a 3-2 win in the Champions League. Their domestic form also looks on the up since the Leipzig native took over. They have picked up 11 points in six league games under the 46-year-old. Only Union Berlin and Eintracht Frankfurt (both 12) have earned more points since Matchday 6 than RB. They also boast the division’s best attack in that time (14 goals) after Bayern (15), led by Christopher Nkunku, who leads the division’s pre-matchday scoring chart with eight goals alongside Niclas Füllkrug and Marcus Thuram.
Carolin Simon is the new captain of the Bayer 04 women’s team. The full-back, who joined from Bayern Munich in the summer, will take over the captain’s armband for the 2026/27 season. Simon returned to Leverkusen in the summer after ten years away. The 33-year-old succeeds goalkeeper Friederike Repohl, who retired at the end of last season.
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SV Wehen Wiesbaden undoubtedly envisaged a different start to the new season. After two matchdays, the Hessen side currently sit bottom of the Liga 3 table. On Saturday 22 August (kick-off: 13:00 CEST), SVWW host the Werkself in the first round of the DFB Pokal at their home ground, the BRITA Arena. It was there, in this very competition a year ago, that the club almost pulled off a massive upset. The lowdown on our next opponents.
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Farid Alfa-Ruprecht is going out on loan from Bayer 04 Leverkusen to Bundesliga 2 side Hertha Berlin. The pacy winger will be at the Berlin club for one year.
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Heading towards the competitive start of the 2026/27 season together: the Werkself kicked off preparations for the DFB Pokal clash at third-tier SV Wehen Wiesbaden with an open session in front of their fans on Tuesday morning. Before the first-round tie on Saturday 22 August at 13:00 CEST - for which the away section is already sold out - there'll be one more open session on Thursday from 11:00 CEST, when fans have another chance to watch head coach Carles Martínez's men at work.
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