Thanks to an exemption by the City of Hamburg and the neighbouring local authorities, the four semi-finalists in the Hamburg Association Cup were determined at the weekend. The two North Regional League sides, Eintracht Norderstedt and Jonathan Tah's former club Altona 93 now face each other on Sunday, 16 August. The meeting of the two Oberliga teams SV Rugenbergen and TSV Sasel is an hour later. A limited number of spectators are permitted at both matches.
The winner of the Hamburg Cup final, to be played on 22 August (kick-off: 14.45 CEST) as part of the Amateurs finals day, will be up against Lars Bender and Co. in the first round of the DFB Cup (11 to 14 September).
On 1 August, Bayer 04 released a 50-minute film to celebrate the tenth anniversary of Kai Havertz being at the club. This in-house production includes Germany teammate Tony Kroos, friend and former teammate Julian Brandt, Leverkusen's sporting director Simon Rolfes, head coach Peter Bosz and the two Bayer 04 managing directors Fernando Carro and Rudi Völler looking back at special moments with and by the prodigy. 'Kai – the Havertz Story | 10 years at Bayer 04 Leverkusen’ appears to have gone down well with fans and friends of the beautiful game. The film has had 500,000 hits on the Bayer 04 YouTube channel in less than two weeks.
There are not just impressive numbers on the video platform YouTube. Bayer 04 currently has 996,000 followers on Instagram – the magical million mark should soon be reached. The club from Leverkusen will be the third German team to achieve that number following on from Bayer Munich and Borussia Dortmund.
Until 1970, the German Football Association (DFB) banned women and girls from playing football in Germany. That is now 50 years ago; a lot has changed since then. On Sunday, 16 August (18.30 CEST), the ARD Sportschau is broadcasting a report on that anniversary with the title, ‘Der größte Gegner ist das Klischee – 50 Jahre Frauenfußball’ ('The cliché is the biggest opponent – 50 years of women's football'). Interviewees include Bayer 04 player Jessica Wich (“Women now just want to do that they want and what makes them happy.”) and former Leverkusen player Merle Barth, who signed for Turbine Potsdam in the summer.
Bayer 04 remained unbeaten in the first 14 league games under Klaus Toppmöller, who took over the managerial hot seat at the Werkself in the summer of 2001. The Werkself were even top of the league at the halfway stage but the 2001/02 season ended with three runner’s up spots in the Bundesliga, Champions League and DFB Cup. Toppmöller coached the Black and Reds for 18 months. The Coach of the Year 2002, who last managed in 2008, celebrates his 69th birthday. Bayer 04 wish Klaus many happy returns!
Opening opponents, derby weekends, the opponents in the season finale: This information and more will be available to Bayer 04 fans on Thursday, 2 July, when the 2026/27 Bundesliga fixture list is published.
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Rüdiger Vollborn has been at the club for 40 years, he holds the record number of Bundesliga appearances for the club (401) and is the only Bayer 04 player to have won both the UEFA Cup (1988) and the DFB Pokal (1993). And the Berliner stayed with the Werkself after ending his impressive playing career as he worked as a goalkeeping coach for the following nine years. Vollborn now works under the Bayer Cross as a fan liaison officer and club archivist. Since February 2021, the personal Black and Red lexicon takes Werkself fans under the heading of 'Rudi recounts...' on a brief trip through the history of Bayer 04 every month…
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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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Two months of preparation, five friendlies and the return of a familiar training camp location: After finishing fifth in the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga last season, the Werkself will return to training on Tuesday, 23 June. Bayer04.de outlines the key dates in the 2026 summer timetable.
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