A look at the record books is enough to make the Wolves cry ahead of the trip to Leverkusen: Previous visits for the team from Lower Saxony have not been too successful. Wolfsburg have only won one of 21 Bundesliga fixtures at Bayer 04 (in 2015; 5-4), otherwise the #B04WOB matches have ended in 14 defeats and six draws for the Green and Whites. In addition, the last time Bayer 04 lost in the first home game was eight years ago. Since then the Black and Reds clocked up six wins and a 2-2 draw against Hoffenheim last season. This year it’s time for another win.
Ten years ago, the current Wolfsburg coach Bruno Labbadia was the head coach at Leverkusen for one season. That season the Werkself finished ninth in the Bundesliga and progressed to the DFB Cup final. Since then, the now 52-year old has proved to be charitable, above all, when his (new) teams meet Bayer 04. In the twelve Bundesliga fixtures where Bruno Labbadia visited Bayer 04 as a coach (with Hamburg SV, VfB Stuttgart and VfL Wolfsburg), he failed to come out on top with eight defeats and four draws making up a mediocre record for the former top striker. Against no other team that Labbadia has faced as coach at least twice in the league, is his return so poor. And it can happily continue that way. Sorry Bruno.
Admittedly, the Bayer 04 goal machine has not been that effective recently. Overlapping the two seasons, Heiko Herrlich’s team has failed to find the back of the net in four of the last five Bundesliga games – the last time was the three goals scored against Hannover 96 on the final day of last season and the wait goes on for the first goal in 2018/19. However, it is reasonable to hope that the music to mark a goal will be heard again on Saturday at the BayArena: In the last 45 matches, Bayer 04 have only failed to score four times – the goals per game average for the Black and Reds is 1.8. Moreover, games between Bayer 04 and the Wolves have never ended goalless.
Talking about failing to score. The Werkself are on the verge of a milestone against the team from Wolfsburg. This could be the 350th game where the Leverkusen lads have kept a clean sheet in the Bundesliga. That could well provide additional motivation for Rambo Özcan and his fellow defenders. While it is fair to assume the visitors will have something to say about that, it will be good from the Bayer 04 point of view to maintain the trend against the Green and Whites . Wolfsburg have only kept clean sheets in two of their last 16 away games (2/7/7). The weather forecast predicts no rain with temperatures around 20 degrees.
Sven Jablonski is in charge of proceedings on Saturday. The 28-year-old, born in Bremen, is one of the younger referees in the Bundesliga. The banker officiated his first game in Germany’s top flight last season in a total of eight games over the whole term. Sven Jablonski made his debut in the Bundesliga in September of last year. And that was at the BayArena in the Werkself home game against SC Freiburg. The Herrlich team not only secured a 4-0 victory but also there when no cards shown to the Bayer 04 players. Hopefully that’s how it can be on Saturday afternoon. The two assistants are Markus Häcker and Jan Neitzel-Petersen. Christian Dietz is the fourth official and the video referees are Dr. Robert Kampka and Sven Waschitzki.
There will probably be a birthday boy on the pitch on Saturday – Wolfsburg’s Paul Verhaegh is set to celebrate his 35th birthday. The stalwart would definitely be the oldest player on the pitch – a grey wolf. From appearances, that nickname also suits Rambo Özcan and he holds the philosopher’s stone at the Werkself. The birthday boy will also face former team-mate: Dominik Kohr played alongside Paul Verhaegh at FC Augsburg between January 2014 and the summer of 2017. In spite of all the congratulations one thing is certain: There will be no presents handed out on the pitch.
There will also be no gifts for motorists on Saturday. Due to various road works, there will be a number of motorway closures from Friday to Sunday – this particularly concerns the A1 from Cologne to Leverkusen as well as the relevant routes on the left side of the Rhine. There will also be severe disruption on the return journey via the Leverkusen Bridge in the direction of Cologne. Accordingly, we’d like to advise all fans planning to use the A1 from Cologne (or anyone wanting to make the return journey after the game in the direction of Cologne) to use alternative routes (A57/A46/A3 or A4/A3 via Heumar). The website of the North Rhine Westphalia roads service lists recommendations. As ever, Bayer 04 recommend using public transport. All tickets (with the exception of Print@Home tickets) entitle the holder to free travel in the Rhein-Ruhr (VRR)and Rhein-Sieg (VRS) regions on the day of the match.
There are still tickets for the game available for anybody making a late decision. And for general information: As with every game, there is the official live text commentary on bayer04.de and on the move with smartphone apps. Anybody wanting to experience the stadium atmosphere with commentary that is available on Werkself Radio. Via the official social media channels of Bayer 04 – Facebook, Twitter and Instagram – there is before, during and after the game full provision of information – starting with line-ups, photos and the most important live events during the game. The matchday hashtag is #B04WOB. And the target is: a home win! So in that sense, it’s ‘Come on the Werkself’!
Werkself-TV shows the highlights of the Bayer 04 women's 1-2 loss against VfL Wolfsburg on the 2nd matchday of the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga 2026/27.
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Bayer 04’s eight opponents in the group stage of the 2026/27 UEFA Europa League have been confirmed. At the draw on Friday 28 August held at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco, the Werkself were drawn against two opponents from each of the four pots. There are a total of four home and four away matches. Read on for details of opponents and fixture dates.
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In the 3-2 defeat at Bundesliga newcomers SV 07 Elversberg, the Werkself found the back of the net in the closing stages and, with a bit of luck, could still have equalised. “Today, our play wasn’t good enough, particularly when it came to the basics,” said head coach Carles Martínez. Like the boss, Ibrahim Maza also wants to learn from the match and look ahead: “Next week, people should be able to see from the very first minute that we want it more than our opponents.” The Werkself review on the Bundesliga opener in 2026/27.
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Werkself TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04's 2-3 loss at SV 07 Elversberg on Matchday 1 of the 2026/27 Bundesliga season...
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No points to start the league campaign: Bayer 04 lost 3-2 away to newly promoted SV 07 Elversberg in the first Bundesliga match of the 2026/27 campaign. Two quick-fire goals from Lukas Petkov (8’) and Cole Campbell (10’) gave the hosts an early lead, before David Mokwa scored the Saarland side’s third shortly after half-time (46’). In the closing stages, the Werkself rallied and staged a late comeback with goals from Patrik Schick (77’) and Christian Kofane (90+1’), but the Black and Reds were denied an equaliser.
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