Bags of experience with the whistle: Dr. Felix Brych will referee the Werkself away game at Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday afternoon, 2 January (kick-off: 15.30 CET). The 45-year-old lawyer from Munich has been a FIFA referee since 2007 and has also already officiated nearly 300 Bundesliga fixtures. His assistants for the #SGEB04 clash are Mark Borsch and Markus Schüller. Florian Badstübner is the VAR referee for the game.
Ahead of the game, Frankfurt head coach Adi Hütter shared his views on the opening match in the New Year. "Bayer play impressive football and are equally dangerous on the counter or at set pieces," said the Austrian in highlighting the strengths of the Werkself. "We have to believe we can more than compete on equal terms. A crucial element will be in counter-attacking situations because of Leverkusen have plenty of speed."
Hütter will have to manage without Sebastian Rode. The holding midfielder is serving a one-match ban. Ragnar Ache, one of the possible candidates up front after the departure of Bas Dost (Club Brugge) behind nine-goals man André Silva, is also ruled out because of injury.
As usual, Werks11 Radio will be covering matches in the New Year. The commentator duo of Cedric Pick/Niko Hartmann will be broadcasting live from the Deutsche Bank Park with coverage starting 30 minutes before kick-off. Log-in at bayer04.de or on the Bayer 04 app. The clash with the team from Hessen is also being broadcast by Sky.
It was an incredibly impressive goal that Leon Bailey scored to give the Werkself the lead in the home game against TSG 1899 Hoffenheim on 13 December. With four minutes on the clock, the Jamaican took a quick corner from the right to Nadiem Amiri. Bailey ran past the Germany international, received the ball on his stronger left foot and curled it into the far top corner from the right hand side of the penalty area to make it 1-0. The match ended in a 4-1 victory for the Black and Reds.
Bailey's impressive shot has now deservedly been nominated for the December Goal of the Month on the ARD Sportschau. Also nominated: Julius Kade (Dynamo Dresden), Dennis Grote (Rot-Weiß Essen), Fin Bartels (Holstein Kiel) and Quentin Fouley (TuS Rot-Weiß Koblenz). You can vote up to midnight on 13 January by phone on 01371 36900 – with the final digit 1 for Leon Bailey as well as online at sportschau.de. Click HERE for the online vote.
Ski jumping gold-medal winner Sven Hannawald will be making the draw for the DFB Cup on Sunday 3 January on the ARD Sportschau from 17.30 CET. The Werkself still have to play their second round match: The home tie – again against Eintracht Frankfurt – originally set for 23 December was rearranged at the request of Bayer 04 to 12 January (kick-off: 20.45 CET). Therefore one of the balls will be marked Bayer 04/Eintracht Frankfurt. The DFB Cup Round of 16 will be played on 2 and 3 February with the quarter-finals on 2 and 3 March. The semi-finals will be on 1 and 2 May with the final at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin on 13 May.
Julian Baumgartlinger has played for the Werkself since the summer of 2016. The midfielder is currently enjoying his best season under the Bayer Cross and has proved to be a reliable player in front of the back four. The captain of the Austria team is 33 this Saturday. Hopefully, 'Baumi' can celebrate his birthday with three points in Frankfurt. We wish him a happy birthday.
Also a year older on Saturday are former Leverkusen players Hanno Balitsch and Jakub Bednarczyk. The former played for Bayer 04 from 2000 to 2005 as well as 2010 to 2012 and is now assistant coach with the Germany U20s. Bednarczyk joined the youth section at Bayer 04 in 2011 from Bergisch Gladbach. The right back progressed through all the youth teams and made it into the senior squad in 2018. A year later he moved to second division FC St. Pauli and is currently on loan in his home country of Poland. The 22-year-old is playing for Zaglebie Lubin. Bayer 04 also wish the duo a happy birthday.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen have extended the contract with U19 midfielder Jonah Berghoff ahead of schedule. The Germany U18 international has signed professional terms with the club to 30 June 2030.
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With sixth place at the end of the 2025/26 Bundesliga campaign, Bayer 04 ended a season in the top third of the table for the ninth time in a row. While the Werkself were narrowly eliminated in the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 by eventual finalists Arsenal, the Black and Reds reached the semi-finals of the DFB Pokal for the third season in succession. As in previous years, you once again have the opportunity to vote for your Player of the Season. Voting is exclusively for Bayer 04 Club members and only via the Bayer 04 app up to and including 11 June.
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With 46 points in the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga, the Bayer 04 Women’s team once again broke the previous season's club record and ended up in fifth place - 15 wins is also a record. As in previous years, you now have the opportunity to vote for your Player of the Season. Voting is open exclusively to Bayer 04 Club members and only via the Bayer 04 app by 11 June.
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The guests at the Scala Club in Leverkusen were amazed when host Reiner Calmund suddenly brought the Managing Director of Sport at Bayer 04, Simon Rolfes, and record Werkself appearance maker Rüdiger Vollborn onto the stage. As part of the show "An Evening with Football & Friends", organised by long-serving Bayer 04 managing director and general manager Calmund, the two surprise guests drew plenty of applause - and provided great entertainment in exciting conversations about the past and future.
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