The Werkself have won three of the 14 games against the team from Saxony with the other fixtures resulting in four draws and seven defeats. The last victory was in April of this year in a 2-0 win at the BayArena. There is another first today: This is the first time that Bayer 04 and RB Leipzig have met on Bundesliga matchday one.
Germany coach Hansi Flick will be watching the first Werkself Bundesliga fixture of the new season at the ground. The 58-year-old announced he would watch the top match at the BayArena and Flick – alongside Rudi Völler – was at the opening game of the season yesterday between Werder Bremen and Bayern Munich (0-4).
The first international break of the new season comes in three weeks time: Germany play Japan in Wolfsburg on Saturday 9 September and that is followed three days later by a match against France in Dortmund.
There will be a very special tribute under the eyes of Flick during half-time: Fernando Carro, Bayer 04 CEO, together with Thomas Eichin (Director of licenced teams), will celebrate the achievements of the Leverkusen U17 Women. The team led by coach Alexander Vukicevic were crowned Germany U17 champions in June.
At the express request of numerous supporters from amongst the Leverkusen fan clubs, Bayer 04 have launched a Family block at the BayArena for the start of the season. This EVLfamily stand, located in the lower tier (Block A1 to A3), harks back to the early 2000s where there was a 'Family Street' and an 'Action Park'. The youngest fans can not only look forward to tickets at five euros each but also lots of participation events in the block, visits from ‘Brian the Lion’ plus a kids menu. The family block is completely sold out for today's home game against RB Leipzig. All the other home sections are also sold out.
In cooperation with the advice centre against sexualised violence Frauennotruf Leverkusen, the Bayer 04 fan liaison team and the Leverkusen fan project, the BayArena will this season once again provide the stage for the offer of support 'Luisa is here!' for people affected by sexual harassment at the stadium.
With rail cancellations at Leverkusen Mitte station there will again be challenges with travel to and from the game. Information on replacement buses is published and constantly updated on the Deutsche Bahn website.
Anyone wanting to read key information before the game should take a look at the new Werkself Live. The matchday programme, offering in compact form the most important facts and stats on the game, is available at the BayArena. Alternatively it is available free online. Click HERE for e-paper.
Lots of departures, numerous new signings – and a trophy. In Josko Gvardiol, Dominik Szoboszlai, Christopher Nkunku and Konrad Laimer, RB Leipzig had to give up four aces this summer. Nevertheless, the club from Saxony appear to have found excellent replacements on the transfer market: Lois Openda, Benjamin Sesko, Nicolas Seiwald, Xavi Simons and others have been signed up. The fact all looks good for the Saxons after the squad revamp was evident last weekend with the 3-0 victory over Bayern Munich in the DFL Supercup. Further information on RB Leipzig is is available in our lowdown on the next opponents.
The German Football Association (DFB) has appointed the experienced referee Dr Felix Brych for the game against the Red Bulls. For the 48-year-old match official this will be game number 44 involving the Werkself (24 wins, seven draws, 13 defeats). Brych will be assisted by Thorben Siewer and Robert Wessel on the touchlines with Günter Per in action as the VAR.
As usual, Werkself Radio is available for anybody unable to be at today's game. The audio broadcast begins 30 minutes before kick-off with commentary provided by Cedric Pick und Niko Hartmann. In addition, the live text update service will keep you up-to-date to ensure you don't miss any of the key match action. Both Werkself Radio and the live text update service are available at bayer04.de and on the Bayer 04 app – just log on.
Attacking midfielder Paulina Bartz is leaving Bayer 04 Leverkusen for good on a permanent move to Hamburger SV in the Google Pixel Women’s Bundesliga. The 21-year-old, who was on loan to the newly promoted side in the winter, originally had a contract to 2027.
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The Bayer 04 Football School opened in 2007 – now this successful programme is getting a new name and a new logo: with immediate effect, the Bayer 04 Football School powered by BarmeniaGothaer is becoming the Bayer 04 Football Academy powered by BarmeniaGothaer.
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Rüdiger Vollborn has been at the club for 40 years, he holds the record number of Bundesliga appearances for the club (401) and is the only Bayer 04 player to have won both the UEFA Cup (1988) and the DFB Pokal (1993). And the Berliner stayed with the Werkself after ending his impressive playing career as he worked as a goalkeeping coach for the following nine years. Vollborn now works under the Bayer Cross as a fan liaison officer and club archivist. Since February 2021, the personal Black and Red lexicon takes Werkself fans under the heading of 'Rudi recounts...' on a brief trip through the history of Bayer 04 every month…
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The sustainable use of the BayArena seats removed as part of the current stadium upgrade has taken on a new dimension: Following on from numerous Bayer 04 fans receiving their ‘Undefeated Champions seats’ and various clubs and community organisations from Leverkusen and the wider region having collected the dismantled seats, Blau-Gelbe Kreuz e.V. also made their way to the BayArena recently. The German-Ukrainian aid organisation took away around 2,100 seats; in Ukraine, these will be used to upgrade the sports infrastructure of two clubs.
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