
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.

It was another incredibly close call in the end: The second showdown in the 2026/27 VBL Club Championship saw the #B04eSports team once again narrowly miss out on a place in the top 16 of the preliminary round – and with it, a spot in the in-person knockout stage. It was a bitter blow: Marc and Sean Landwehr again fell just short, despite being level on points with their rivals. As was the case last month, their weaker record across the twelve individual matches in the six preliminary round fixtures proved decisive.
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“They stuck with us over the past few weeks when things weren’t going so well,” said captain Edmond Tapsoba, thanking the fans for their support after the 2–1 win in Cologne and dedicating the derby victory to them. Throughout the 90 minutes, the Werkself had looked unfazed and in command, inflicting the first home defeat of the season on FC Köln. It was the sixth consecutive win against the Cologne team for Bayer 04 – head coach Carles Martínez, on the other hand, was facing the team from the neighbouring city for the first time and “now really knows what this derby win means”. The Werkself derby review.
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Following the 2–1 derby victory away at FC Köln on Bundesliga matchday 9, Edmond Tapsoba, Malik Tillman and Aleix Garcia spoke to Werkself TV...
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Werkself TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04's 2-1 derby win at 1. FC Köln Matchday 9 of the 2026/27 Bundesliga season...
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There were celebrations among those in black and red at the RheinEnergieSTADION. On Matchday 9 of the 2026/27 Bundesliga season, the Werkself beat 1. FC Köln 2-0 and registered their sixth successive win in the derby. Aleix Garcia put Bayer 04 in front after just seven minutes with a direct free kick. Leverkusen played with discipline and energy after that and didn't allow some fierce challenges to unsettle them. Patrik Schick made it 2-0 in the 86th minute, and Said El Mala's goal in stoppage time for Köln proved nothing more than consolation. Jonas Hofmann crowned the derby win with his 100th appearance for the club.
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