
Oliver Roggisch, handball World Cup winner in 2007 and current manager of the Germany handball team, pulled out the balls at the German Football museum in Dortmund with ten Bayer 04 fans in the audience. The ties involving the remaining eight teams will be played on Tuesday and Wednesday, 6 and 7 February. Tickets for the game against Werder Bremen go on sale on 16 January. SC Paderborn, the only third division side left in the competition, have been drawn against record winners Bayern Munich.
Bayer 04 CEO Michael Schade commented on the tie: “A good draw even though Werder haven’t always been easy to play against in the recent past. Of course, we’re very happy to be playing at home and we’ll do all we can to continue our cup run.” Head coach Heiko Herrlich said: “It’s a tough challenge and a great opportunity at the same time. Bremen have made progress under the new coach and are continuing to improve. Werder will give us a real test, just like in the league. On the other hand, we’re at home. With our fans behind us, we have a great chance of going through to the semi-finals. We definitely want to take that chance.“
The Werkself last played Werder Bremen at the BayArena on Bundesliga matchday 16 in the middle of December and ran out deserved winners with a 1-0 victory. Bayer 04 and Werder have often met in cup competitions including the UEFA Cup semi-final in 1988 and the DFB Cup final in 2009. The last cup meeting was also in the DFB Cup in the 2015/16 campaign at the quarter-final stage: Bremen fought back from a goal down at the BayArena to win 3-1. February brings the next shoot-out in the DFB Cup.
Eintracht Frankfurt v FSV Mainz 05
Bayer 04 v Werder Bremen
SC Paderborn v Bayern Munich
FC Schalke 04 v VfL Wolfsburg

Bayer 04 Leverkusen will have to manage without centre-back Edmond Tapsoba in the coming weeks. The Burkina Faso international returned to the Werkself from the Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco with a muscle injury.
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The Werkself are away to Hamburg SV at the end of the Hinrunde in the 2025/26 Bundesliga campaign. The match at the newly promoted club is on Tuesday night, 13 January (kick-off: 20:30 CET). Ahead of the first encounter with HSV since 2018, Kasper Hjulmand spoke about the strengths of the opponents, lessons learnt from the home defeat against VfB Stuttgart and provided a squad update.
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In Germany, the temperatures are currently around zero, leaving even professional footballers freezing - but not the Bayer 04 Women. Roberto Pätzold's team have fled the cold to the south and are preparing for the second half of the season at a training camp in the Algarve, almost 2,000 kilometres away from home as the crow flies. The Leverkusen squad landed in Faro on Saturday morning and have already completed the first three training sessions over the weekend.
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It was a disappointing Saturday night. The Werkself lost 4-1 to VfB Stuttgart to start the new year on Bundesliga matchday 16 in 2025/26, a result that left both players and fans disappointed. "We played without any passion," said Alejandro Grimaldo honestly afterwards. Teammate Jarell Quansah was even more self-critical, emphasising: "We were miles off it in the first half. You can't put in a performance like that, especially in front of our own fans and I can only apologise to them, to be honest." Read on for the reaction, facts and stats from the clash with VfB Stuttgart in the Werkself review.
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