The first DFB Cup final for Bayer 04 was played on 12 June of that year. The opponents, the Hertha Berlin second team, were the rank outsiders. 15,000 Black and Red fans followed their team to Berlin. The Werkself were in control of the game for the full 90 minutes and only conceded one shot on goal. Equally, the favourites found it hard to penetrate the Hertha defence. Then, on 77 minutes, the striker Ulf Kirsten broke the deadlock with a header from a Pavel Hapal cross. 1-0 to the Werkself! That secured the club’s second title after the UEFA Cup win in 1988.
Match stats:
Bayer 04: Vollborn - Foda, Wörns, Fischer, Lupescu, Kree, Happe, Scholz, Hapal, Thom, Kirsten
Hertha BSC Reserves: Fiedler - O. Schmidt (73. Höpfner), Meyer, Nied, Kolczyk, Ramelow, Klews, A. Schmidt, Kaiser, Holzbecher, Gezen
Goals: 1-0 Kirsten (77’)
Referee: Dr. Markus Merk (Kaiserslautern)
Booked: Kirsten - /
Attendance: 76.391
Strengthening the Bayer 04 Leverkusen youth teams: Konstantinos Kotsifakis will join the Werkself from Bundesliga 2 club Hertha Berlin for the 2026/27 season, where he will be a permanent member of the Leverkusen U19 coaching set-up. The German-Greek will also take on an operational role in coaching the Bayer 04 Future Team. The 29-year-old was most recently head coach of the U17s at Hertha Berlin.
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Another award for the Bayer 04 head groundsman and staff: After coming top in the 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2024/25 seasons, the BayArena pitch came second in the Bundesliga Pitch of the Year ranking for the 2025/26 season. VfL Wolfsburg secured the top spot this year, with TSG Hoffenheim in third place.
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Opening opponents, derby weekends, the opponents in the season finale: This information and more will be available to Bayer 04 fans on Thursday, 2 July, when the 2026/27 Bundesliga fixture list is published.
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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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