“We’ve got the most important thing in the bag,” said the Werkself head coach Hannes Wolf as he briefly looked back at his first outing with the Black and Reds and the three points against the Royal Blues. The Bayer 04 squad had “a very good week of training with lots of sessions” behind them. “The players have really got involved and it was great fun for all of them.” Wolf had good news about the injury situation.
The head coach has the same squad available for the game in Sinsheim as he did against Schalke 04. Daley Sinkgraven is also an option again. The left-back missed the last four games due to a muscle injury. Paulinho is also back in full training following his torn cruciate but Wolf said the clash with TSG “has come too soon after his long injury lay-off .” With the exception of the long-term absentees Santiago Arias, Julian Baumgartlinger, Lars Bender and Timothy Fosu-Mensah plus Paulinho, all the other players are available for the matchday squad.
Wolf has placed great store in the right balance between attack and defence in his work on the training ground. It is down to the whole team regardless of which eleven players start this time. “We have very good options in every position and are happy we can make five substitutions,” said the Werkself head coach. “I hope that carries on after the coronavirus pandemic. It’s just a very good rule for team sport.”
The content of training sessions during the week was influenced by structural considerations as well as playing fast moves. Exactly the right preparation for the away game at Hoffenheim as Wolf declared in his analysis of the forthcoming opponents: “They have high quality, a lot of footballing class and pace in attack. Neither them nor us have a negative approach to this game. Therefore, it will be a very interesting watch.”
As it stands, this will be last Bundesliga fixture on a Monday night. This kick-off time is particularly unpopular with the fans and is set to be scrapped next season with #TSGB04 the last Monday game this term. Wolf: “I think this timing is difficult in normal times. Fans like to travel and they have to go to work or take their children to school the next day. I can really understand the day not being used in the future. In terms of the match tomorrow, I can say: We really want to win the Monday night game.”
Match information:
Broadcasters: DAZN and Werks11 Radio
Referee: The match officials will be announced on the day of the game

Four Bayer 04 players are in action at the 35th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations being played in Morocco from 21 December to 18 January 2026: Eliesse Ben Seghir for the hosts, Edmond Tapsoba with Burkina Faso, Ibrahim Maza for Algeria and Christian Kofane with Cameroon. Updates on the AFCON matches involving Werkself players...
Show more
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 personalised 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…
Show more
With their wonderful goals, Martin Terrier and Florian Wirtz are up for the Bundesliga Goal of the Year 2025. Voting for fans will run exclusively via the official Bundesliga app until Sunday, 4 January.
Show more
The ‘year after’ the most successful year in the club's history brought many changes at Bayer 04. In an exclusive double interview with bayer04.de shortly before the Christmas break, Fernando Carro and Simon Rolfes spoke about building a new team capable of winning trophies, the work of coach Kasper Hjulmand, the young new signings who have quickly developed into key players, and their personal plans for the Christmas holidays. Their outlook for the coming year also shows that the potential is far from exhausted and ambitions remain high.
Show more
Last-minute ecstasy, huge disappointment and a historic performance on the European stage - 2025 was a real emotional roller coaster, especially for the U19s. A rousing run in the knockout phase secured the team a place in the final of the German championships, where they lost by the narrowest of margins. Despite the departure of several key players, the young Werkself team quickly regained their usual strength and qualified for the knockout rounds in the UEFA Youth League for the first time at the end of the year. In 2025, youngsters Jeremiah Mensah and Montrell Culbreath made their debuts in the Bundesliga, the DFB Pokal and the UEFA Champions League. The other youth teams also contributed great performances and a number of trophies to the collective Black and Red success, while the successful Bayer 04 Future Kids project broke new ground. Read on for the 2025 review of the youth teams.
Show more