Actor Palina Rojinski will be helping to make the draw for the 32 first round ties at the German Football Museum in Dortmund from 22.00 CET (live on ARD). In the two draw bowls with professional and lower league clubs there will be 64 teams including Bayer 04 as well as sixth-tier BSC Hastedt and SV Linx the participants lowest in the league pyramid. DFB president Reinhard Grindel will be in charge of the draw and the presenters are Julia Scharf and Arnd Zeigler.
Bayer 04 are in Pot 1 for the first round draw amongst the pro teams, which means the Werkself will definitely play their first competitive match of next season (17 to 20 August) away to a lower league side – last season it was Karlsruher SC (3-0 a.e.t.). All the matches in the DFB Cup will be shown live on Sky. One match on the Monday night will be live on ARD from 20.45 CET.
FC Heidenheim (Bundesliga 2)
FC Köln (Bundesliga 2)
FC Nürnberg (Bundesliga)
FC Union Berlin (Bundesliga 2)
Arminia Bielefeld (Bundesliga 2)
Bayer 04
Bayern Munich (Bundesliga)
Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga)
Borussia Mönchengladbach (Bundesliga)
Dynamo Dresden (Bundesliga 2)
Eintracht Frankfurt (Bundesliga, Cup winners)
FC Augsburg (Bundesliga)
FC Ingolstadt (Bundesliga 2)
FC St. Pauli (Bundesliga 2)
Fortuna Düsseldorf (Bundesliga)
FSV Mainz 05 (Bundesliga)
Hamburg SV (Bundesliga 2)
Hannover 96 (Bundesliga)
Hertha BSC (Bundesliga)
Holstein Kiel (Bundesliga 2)
Jahn Regensburg (Bundesliga 2)
MSV Duisburg (Bundesliga 2)
RB Leipzig (Bundesliga)
SC Freiburg (Bundesliga)
Schalke 04 (Bundesliga)
SV Darmstadt (Bundesliga 2)
SV Sandhausen (Bundesliga 2)
TSG Hoffenheim (Bundesliga)
VfB Stuttgart (Bundesliga)
VfL Bochum (Bundesliga 2)
VfL Wolfsburg (Bundesliga)
Werder Bremen (Bundesliga)
CfR Pforzheim (Oberliga, Finalist in Baden Cup)
FC Kaiserslautern (League 3)
FC Lok Stendal (Oberliga, Finalist in Sachsen Anhalt Cup)
FC Magdeburg (Bundesliga 2)
FC Schweinfurt 05 (Bavarian Regional League, Bavaria Cup winners)
BFC Dynamo (Regional League North, Berlin Cup winners)
BSC Hastedt (Oberliga, Bremen Cup winners)
BSG Chemie Leipzig (Oberliga, Saxony Cup winners)
Carl Zeiss Jena (League 3 Thüringen Cup winners)
Eintracht Braunschweig (League 3)
Energie Cottbus (League 3, Brandenburg Cup winners)
FC Erzgebirge Aue (Bundesliga 2)
Hansa Rostock (League 3, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Cup winners)
Karlsruher SC (League 3)
Rot-Weiß Oberhausen (Regional League West, Lower Rhine Cup winners)
SC Paderborn (Bundesliga 2)
SpVgg Greuther Fürth (Bundesliga 2)
SSV Jeddeloh (Regional League North, Finalists in Lower Saxony Cup)
SSV Ulm (Bavaria Regional League, Württemberg Cup winners)
SV Drochtersen/Assel (Regional League North, Finalists in Lower Saxony Cup)
SV Elversberg 07 (Regional League South West, Saarland Cup winners)
SV Linx (Verbandsliga, South Baden Cup winners)
SV Rödinghausen (Regional League West, play-off winners)
SV Wehen Wiesbaden (League 3)
TSV 1860 München (League 3, Bavarian Amateur champions)
TSV Steinbach (Regional League South West, Hessen Cup winners)
TuS Dassendorf (Oberliga, Hamburg Cup winners)
TuS Erndtebrück (Oberliga, Finalist in Westphalia Cup)
Rot-Weiß Koblenz (Oberliga, Rheinland Cup winners)
Viktoria Köln (Regional League West, Middle Rhine Cup winners)
Weiche Flensburg 08 (Regional League North, Schleswig-Holstein Cup winners)
Wormatia Worms (Regional League South West, Southwest Cup winners)
With sixth place at the end of the 2025/26 Bundesliga campaign, Bayer 04 ended a season in the top third of the table for the ninth time in a row. While the Werkself were narrowly eliminated in the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 by eventual finalists Arsenal, the Black and Reds reached the semi-finals of the DFB Pokal for the third season in succession. As in previous years, you once again have the opportunity to vote for your Player of the Season. Voting is exclusively for Bayer 04 Club members and only via the Bayer 04 app up to and including 11 June.
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With 46 points in the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga, the Bayer 04 Women’s team once again broke the previous season's club record and ended up in fifth place - 15 wins is also a record. As in previous years, you now have the opportunity to vote for your Player of the Season. Voting is open exclusively to Bayer 04 Club members and only via the Bayer 04 app by 11 June.
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Standing on the pitch where the Werkself players perform - for many Bayer 04 club members, this wish became reality at this year's Members' kickabout. Around 400 active participants of all ages took the opportunity to experience the BayArena from a new and special perspective. And there was also plenty going on in the stands: The event attracted more than 1,000 visitors in total and provided an atmospheric end to the season.
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Lying third in the Bundesliga, the Werkself made a faltering start in 2026 after the winter break, but gradually rediscovered winning ways and, as in the previous campaign, were among the top 16 in Europe and the top four in the DFB Pokal. In the Bundesliga, the Werkself also remained in the race for Champions League qualification right to the end. However, because setbacks repeatedly crept into the Werkself's performances between good displays and crucial games, it was not quite enough to secure a UCL spot in the end. A season with many ups and downs brought sixth place and qualification for the UEFA Europa League. Part II of the review of the 2025/26 season.
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