
The first match
...took place on matchday six in the 1979/80 season. The two teams shared a 1-1 draw at the Haberland Stadium in front of a crowd of 22,000. Klaus Bruckmann headed in a cross from Dieter Herzog to give Bayer 04 the lead on 72 minutes. FC Köln striker Dieter Müller levelled the scores from a corner with eight minutes to play.
The first win
...was a 2-1 victory for Leverkusen in 1983/84. That was the ninth derby between the two clubs in the Bundesliga. Klaus Allofs put FC Köln 1-0 up after just four minutes before goals from Herbert Waas (34') and Bum-kun Cha (57') turned it round.
The first win in Cologne
...came with a 3-2 win for Bayer 04 on matchday 21 in the 1985/86 campaign. Klaus Allofs netted a brace on six and nine minutes to give Kölna 2-0 lead. Eric Ribbeck's team responded decisively after the break. Thomas Zechel pulled a goal back (51'), Bum-kun Cha levelled (72') and Herbert Waas netted the winner (78').
The most goals in a game
...between the two Rhineland rivals came in a game at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium in May 1985. A spectacular encounter produced an entertaining 4-4 draw. Christian Schreier's opener (22') was cancelled out by Pierre Littbarski (25'), who also made it 2-2 (39') after Dirk Schlegel had restored Leverkusen's lead (36'). Hans-Peter Lehnhoff (44') and Manfred Lefkes (50') scored to put FC 4-2 up before a brace from Herbert Waas (64'/75') put the Werkself level for the last time the game.
The biggest wins
…against FC were a 4-0 win for Bayer 04 in November 1997 with a strike from Erik Meijer (18') followed by an Ulf Kirsten hat-trick (37'/89'/90') plus a 5-1 victory in November 2014. Köln took an early lead with a penalty scored by Matthias Lehmann on four minutes but the Werkself struck back with two goals from Karim Bellarabi (26'/90') and Josip Drmic (79'/88') and one from Hakan Calhanoglu (61').
The longest run
...was achieved by Bayer 04 between 1996/97 (4-0 in Cologne) and 2010/11 (2-0 in Cologne). Leverkusen went 14 consecutive games without defeat against FC Köln with ten wins and four draws.
The most goals
...against FC were scored by prolific goalscorers. Ulf Kirsten (pictured above) heads the list by far with 12 goals against FC. Behind Ulf are Herbert Waas (six) and Arne-Larsen Ökland (four). Amongst the current Bayer 04 first team squad, Stefan Kießling, Lars Bender, Julian Brandt and Karim Bellarabi have all scored twice for the Werkself against FC Köln.

Werkself-TV shows the highlights of the Bayer 04 women's 1-3 loss against Werder Bremen on the 26th matchday of the Google Pixel Frauen-Bundesliga 2025/26.
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen have agreed a conract extension with home-grown talent Sofie Zdebel by a further year ahead of schedule. The 21-year-old Germany U23 international will stay at the club until 30 June 2028.
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Bayer 04 could only manage a 1-1 draw at home to Hamburg in the final game of the 2025/26 Bundesliga season as they finish in sixth place and qualify for the UEFA Europa League. Patrik Schick missed a first-half penalty before Fabio Vieira put the visitors ahead on the hour. Jarell Quansah’s deflected header in the 79th minute earned a point to finish the campaign.
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Jonas Omlin was given an official send-off ahead of the final Bundesliga game of the season at home to Hamburg. The 32-year-old Swiss goalkeeper joined the Werkself on loan for the second half of the campaign from Borussia Mönchengladbach in the winter.
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