A good omen? Bayer 04 have never lost when Sören Storks has been the referee. The 33-year-old has been in charge of four games involving the Black and Reds with the Werkself winning three. Storks showed the yellow card to today’s hosts three times. His assistants on Monday night, 26 October (kick-off: 20.30 CET/live on DAZN and on Werkself Radio at bayer04.de and on the Bayer 04 app), Thorben Siewer and Philipp Hüwe. Dr. Felix Brych is the VAR referee.
As CEO Christian Seifert announced on Monday, he will leave the German Football League (DFL) at the end of his contract in June 2022. After 17 years with the DFL, the 51-year-old is looking to “begin a new chapter in his professional career.”
Fernando Carro, chairman of the board at Bayer 04, said in response to Seifert’s announcement: “The Bundesliga and thereby Bayer 04 Leverkusen are grateful to Christian Seifert for the outstanding work he has performed to date for German football. He will be a hard act to follow with the huge challenges that have to be overcome.”
Augsburg’s head coach Heiko Herrlich was able to gain a massive amount of experience as a player and coach at the Werkself. Bayer 04 enabled the man from Mannheim to take his first steps as professional footballer in 1989 and then in 2017 he had the opportunity to work as head coach in the Bundesliga.
The total of five and a half years the now 48-year-old spent at Leverkusen had a big effect on his life and character as the coach explained at the FCA press conference on Sunday. “I’m very grateful I had the chance there and I look back very positively,” said Herrlich who is assuming the Werkself will have gained a lot of strength ahead of the game against his team with the Europa League opener against Nice (6-2). “I expect all of my players to give 100 per cent,” added Herrlich.
The Robert Enke Foundation (RES) has provided important work for the past ten years on education, research and treatment of depression. As part of the campaign ‘Robert Enke Foundation on tour’, the foundation is providing the opportunity for digital and individual contact to gain information on the illness of depression and means of support. At the Werkself home game against FC Augsburg, people have the chance to make contact with workers from the foundation via an online platform. The foundation workers will be available from 17.30 to 20.30 CET on Monday.
The German Football Association (DFB) has postponed all international fixtures and courses for the junior national teams until the end of the year due to the increasing number of coronavirus infections. From a Black and Red perspective, that affects Bundesliga defender and Germany U20 international Juliane Wirtz plus U19 youngster Emrehan Gedikli. The central striker, who was in the Werkself squad for the first time in the 1-0 win at Mainz, recently played for the Germany U18s.
This does not apply to the U21 team who have qualifiers for the European Championships coming up. Coach Stefan Kuntz has called up the Leverkusen players Lennart Grill and Florian Wirtz recently.
With their wonderful goals, Martin Terrier and Florian Wirtz are up for the Bundesliga Goal of the Year 2025. Voting for fans will run exclusively via the official Bundesliga app until Sunday, 4 January.
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The ‘year after’ the most successful year in the club's history brought many changes at Bayer 04. In an exclusive double interview with bayer04.de shortly before the Christmas break, Fernando Carro and Simon Rolfes spoke about building a new team capable of winning trophies, the work of coach Kasper Hjulmand, the young new signings who have quickly developed into key players, and their personal plans for the Christmas holidays. Their outlook for the coming year also shows that the potential is far from exhausted and ambitions remain high.
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Last-minute ecstasy, huge disappointment and a historic performance on the European stage - 2025 was a real emotional roller coaster, especially for the U19s. A rousing run in the knockout phase secured the team a place in the final of the German championships, where they lost by the narrowest of margins. Despite the departure of several key players, the young Werkself team quickly regained their usual strength and qualified for the knockout rounds in the UEFA Youth League for the first time at the end of the year. In 2025, youngsters Jeremiah Mensah and Montrell Culbreath made their debuts in the Bundesliga, the DFB Pokal and the UEFA Champions League. The other youth teams also contributed great performances and a number of trophies to the collective Black and Red success, while the successful Bayer 04 Future Kids project broke new ground. Read on for the 2025 review of the youth teams.
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Four Bayer 04 players are in action at the 35th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations being played in Morocco from 21 December to 18 January 2026: Eliesse Ben Seghir for the hosts, Edmond Tapsoba with Burkina Faso, Ibrahim Maza for Algeria and Christian Kofane with Cameroon. Updates on the AFCON matches involving Werkself players...
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A memorable 12 months: 2025 was a year marked by success, intense competition and groundbreaking innovations for the #B04eSports team. After ending the 2024/25 season as runners-up, the Leverkusen-based console pros got down to business in a new, completely restructured season model, in which showdowns rather than divisions were the decisive factor on the road to the final round of the German Club Championship. Bayer 04 quickly earned a place in the history books of the most prestigious competition in German eSports and secured some valuable advantages for the coming year. Bayer04.de takes a look back at 12 months full of passion and the determination to take the next step.
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