FIFA referee Felix Zwayer has been in charge of 23 Bayer 04 games since 2009. On Tuesday night, 19 January, the Berliner will start match number 24 at 20.30 CET when the Werkself take on Borussia Dortmund. The team under Peter Bosz would like to clock up a second home win in succession against Borussia following the spectacular 4-3 win in February 2020.
In the previous matches refereed by the 39-year-old, the Werkself have secured 12 wins (5 draws, 6 defeats). Zwayer has shown the Black and Reds 41 yellow cards and one red against former Leverkusen player Kyriakos Papadopoulos.
On Monday, Bosz was not the only one to talk about the clash with BVB (SEE the report here). His opposite number Edin Terzic also faced questions from journalists in Dortmund. The 38-year-old, who took over the helm from Lucien Favre in the middle of December, shared his views on the Werkself: “They didn’t have an easy start and lost both of their top goalscorers before the start of the season but they are having a very good first half of the campaign. It will be a tough challenge but we’re looking forward to it.”
Terzic will have to manage without Dan-Axel Zagadou at Leverkusen. The central defender suffered a torn thigh muscle, explained the head coach. And the holding midfielder Axel Witsel (torn Achilles) and Emre Can are also sidelined. The former Leverkusen player is serving a one-match ban. Also ruled out through injury are Marcel Schmelzer and Thorgan Hazard. HERE is the lowdown on our next opponents.
The German Football League (DFL) will continue their support for young youth athletes in the coming year. As announced by the league association this week, the partnership with Deutsche Sporthilfe has been extended to 2025 at least. A total of 850 talented youngsters from over 50 different sports have already received support under the auspices of elite youth development.
Reinforcement for the Bayer 04 U17s : The South Korean Ingyom Jung joins the Werkself with immediate effect from the youth section at Fortuna Düsseldorf. The winger played for Düsseldorf in all the games in the disrupted season in the U17 Bundesliga West. Jung will join his new teammates on Tuesday following the obligatory coronavirus test.
The long-serving Bayer 04 official Jonas Boldt is 39 on Tuesday. Born in Nuremberg, he started working at Leverkusen as a scout in January 2007. Boldt went on to be an assistant to the management board, head of the scouting department, general manager and finally sporting director. In the summer of 2019 he joined second division Hamburg SV. Boldt has since been working in Hamburg as sporting managing director. HSV beat VfL Osnabrück 5-0 on Monday night in a second division game and continue on course for promotion as league leaders. That helps make the big day easier to enjoy. Happy birthday, Jonas!
Also a year older on Tuesday is the former Werkself player Jürgen Gelsdorf. Signed from Arminia Bielefeld in 1976, the central defender spent the next ten years at Leverkusen until he retired as a player. Gelsdorf was a member of the team that won promotion in 1979.
After hanging up his boots, Duisburg-born Gelsdorf stayed at Bayer 04 as a coach, initially in charge of the youth team, later he was assistant to Rinus Michels and finally head coach of the Werkself (1989 to 1991). After being at other clubs, Gelsdorf returned in 2007 as head of the football department at TSV Bayer 04. He also looks after the needs of the Veterans team. He celebrates his 68th birthday on Tuesday. Many happy returns, Jürgen.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen have secured a new premium partner in the form of DRIVIO. DRIVIO, already part of the club’s partner portfolio as a reliable car subscription partner for Bayer 04, will continue to support the club in this capacity and, with immediate effect, also join the premium group of companies that cooperate closely with the Werkself. The premium and car subscription partnership between Bayer 04 Leverkusen and DRIVIO will initially run until 30 June 2027.
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Following last weekend’s big game against Wolfsburg, Bayer 04 Women face another exciting challenge as they visit Hoffenheim to kick off Matchday 3 in the Google Pixel Bundesliga on Friday (kick-off: 18:30 CEST).
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Under the slogan ‘Holidays without War’, 60 children from war-torn Ukraine took part in the summer camp organised by the German-Ukrainian association Blau-Gelbes Kreuz in Leverkusen and the surrounding area in August. The children aged between 10 and 14 – many of whom have lost their parents in the war – come from the Ukrainian twin towns of Leverkusen, Cologne and Monheim am Rhein: Nikopol, Dnipro and Volodymyr. Bayer 04, Bayer AG and TSV Bayer 04 supported the camp to mark its 10th anniversary, enabling even more children and young people than in previous years to spend a few carefree days’ holiday away from the war in the Rhineland.
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Midfielder Ruby Grant is leaving Bayer 04 Leverkusen and joining Portuguese runners-up Sporting CP a year before her contract expires. The 24-year-old has been at the Werkself since January 2025.
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New to Leverkusen and straight up onto the roof at the BayArena: Guéla Doué has arrived. In an interview with Werkself TV, the new right-back talks about his previous links with Bayer 04 and how much he’s looking forward to his first home match. Have a look!
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