As one of the four weaker teams from the Champions League and the part of unseeded sides, Leverkusen will play one of these seeded teams in the Round of 32: Ajax, Inter Milan, Benfica, RB Salzburg, Sevilla, Espanol, Manchester United, Arsenal, Celtic, FC Basel, FC Porto, Sporting Braga, LASK Linz, Basaksehir, KAA Gent and Malmö.
The Werkself will play the first leg at the BayArena as the seeded teams are at home in the second leg. Teams from the same association or the same group cannot play each other. The last appearance of Leverkusen in the Europa League was ten months ago: Bayer 04 were knocked out in the Round of 32 by FK Krasnodar after two draws (0-0, 1-1).
Before that, there is the derby in Cologne on Saturday 14 December (kick-off: 15.30 CET). Bundesliga referee Manuel Gräfe has been appointed for this game. The 46-year-old Berliner will officiate his 26th match involving Bayer 04. In the previous 25 games under Gräfe, Leverkusen won 15 times with four draws and six defeats: In those games, the long-standing FIFA referee showed 47 yellow and five red cards to Werkself players.
One thing is clear: Referee Gräfe will have the longest journey to Saturday's match of anybody involved on the pitch – and that by a long way. While Cologne and the capital are over 500 kilometres apart, the home grounds of FC Köln and Bayer 04 are just 14.66 kilometres apart as the crow flies. That's the shortest distance between two grounds in the Bundesliga. Not even the stadiums of the two Berlin clubs Hertha and Union come close to that figure with a distance of 23.09 kilometres.
The former Bayer 04 player Michal Kadlec today (Friday 13 December) celebrates his 35th birthday. The Czech Republic international, with 67 caps, wore the Werkself shirt from 2008 to 2013. During that time, the left-back played 158 competitive matches scoring 14 goals and providing 15 assists. Bayer 04 wish him many happy returns on his birthday.
The Werkself first teamer Kai Havertz is among 55 players nominated for the FIFA 20 Team of the Year. Fans will have the opportunity to pick their team of the year. In addition to the Leverkusen player, the nominees include world stars like Virgil van Dijk, Lionel Messi, Neymar and Cristiano Ronaldo. The final line-up will be announced in January. You can vote here.
Werkself-TV shows the highlights of the Bayer 04 women's 1-2 loss at VfL Wolfsburg on the 20th matchday of the Google Pixel Frauen-Bundesliga 2025/26.
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The Bundesliga home game against VfL Wolfsburg in the first half of the season was one of those classic ‘days to forget’ for Bayer 04 Women. It started with goalkeeper Charlotte Voll being shown a red card in the first minute of the game, and following a further sending-off, coach Roberto Pätzold's 9-women side ended up losing 5-1 to last season's runners-up. At 18.30 CET on Sunday, they'll have the chance to exact revenge at the AOK Stadium - and pick up valuable points in the race for third place.
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Bayern Munich come to the BayArena this Saturday with an 11-point lead in the Bundesliga as they look to take a step closer to the title. As imperious as they may seem, a weakness has emerged of late that the Werkself proved they can exploit in Wednesday’s 1-1 draw with Arsenal in the Champions League. Leverkusen are also looking to make it four Bundesliga home games unbeaten against the Bavarians. Here’s all you need to know ahead of the 15:30 CET kick-off in our matchday news.
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Another home game, another top opponent - another marker? Three days after their convincing performance in the 1-1 draw with Arsenal in the UEFA Champions League round of 16 first leg, Bayer 04 continue their Bundesliga campaign with an equally high-calibre fixture. Matchday 26 sees league leaders Bayern Munich visit the sold-out BayArena. Ahead of the clash, head coach Kasper Hjulmand spoke about a comparison between Arsenal and the Bavarians, Bayern's high-scoring performance in Europe's premier club competition and a return to the squad for one Werkself player.
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High spirits and previously untold stories: Around 100 Bayer 04 fans packed the Schwadbud fan pub in the east stand of the BayArena on Thursday evening to be there in person for the first instalment of the new series of events entitled “Rudi lädt ein” (Rudi invites you). They listened intently as long-serving Werkself players Gonzalo Castro and Stefan Kießling chatted with record appearance-maker Rüdiger Vollborn and presenter and stadium announcer Tobias Ufer about their many years together at the club, shared amusing anecdotes and revealed dressing room secrets. Anyone who missed the premiere can already look forward to the second instalment – on 12 May, Rudi will be testing the expert knowledge of Bayer 04 fans during a quiz night.
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