
This time the draw was made by the former Leverkusen women's player Turid Knaak, who played for Bayer 04 from 2011 to 2017. She stood in for Felix Neureuther due to illness. The former Germany international and current goalkeeping coach of the national team, Andreas Köpke, was in charge of the draw.
Rudi Völler: "We are happy to have another home game. VfB Stuttgart not only feels like a first division team of course but they are also an opponent to take seriously and we will need to be on top of our game. But we want to go far in this competition and we are very, very optimistic that we can go through against VfB." The record against VfB in the DFB Cup provides reason to be optimistic. Bayer 04 have always beaten Stuttgart in the cup. And the Werkself progressed to the semi-final stage in 1991/92 and 2002/03.
Sporting director Simon Rolfes was also excited: “A great draw for us. VfB will bring lots of fans and it will be a great cup battle with a guaranteed fantastic atmosphere. Our clear aim is to win this duel and go through to the quarter-finals."
Ticket information will be announced shortly.
Eintracht Frankfurt v RB Leipzig
Bayer 04 v VfB Stuttgart
FC Bayern Munich v TSG Hoffenheim
Schalke 04 v Hertha Berlin
FC Saarbrücken v Karlsruher SC
Werder Bremen v Borussia Dortmund
FC Kaiserslautern v Fortuna Düsseldorf
SC Verl v FC Union Berlin

In their third friendly of this pre-season, Bayer 04 played on home soil for the first time – and won there too! The Werkself claimed a comfortable 4-0 victory against Belgian top-flight side KRC Genk at the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion. Jeanuel Belocian (9’) and Nathan Tella (42’) gave a dominant Leverkusen a 2-0 lead at the break, which Afonso Moreira (51’) and Christian Kofane (53’) doubled after the break. Among the many second-half substitutions was Patrik Schick, who made his first friendly appearance of the summer.
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The Werkself are finally back. On Saturday 8 August, Bayer 04 kick off the 2026/27 campaign with their opening match. But there’s far more than just a double-header in store for Werkself supporters. True to the motto ‘One day. Two teams. One club’, the BayArena and the Ulrich Haberland Stadium will be transformed into a world of excitement.
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The Werkself continue their 2026/27 pre-season preparations with their third friendly against Belgian top-flight side KRC Genk at the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion on Wednesday 29 July (kick-off 15:00 CEST). Werkself-TV is broadcasting the match live and in full in a stream from 14:50 CEST...

After the children from the Bayer 04 Football Academy grilled Janis Blaswich and Simeon Rapsch last week, another group of 20 young Werkself fans gathered at the BayArena press conference room on Tuesday afternoon, 28 July . This time, the kids directed their questions at Tim Oermann and Jonah Berghoff. Defender Oermann raved about his school days, whilst talented midfielder Berghoff revealed to the young footballers, amongst other things, who his favourite player is – and he is also at Bayer 04. To round things off, the pair naturally obliged with all requests for autographs and selfies.
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Bayer 04 are back on the pitch. Following the first training sessions, the Werkself play the first pre-season friendly on Saturday, July 18. The match against Oberliga club Sportfreunde Baumberg kicks off at 15:30 CEST in Monheim am Rhein. Fans unable to attend the match can watch head coach Carles Martínez’s first game in charge for free via a livestream at bayer04.de and on the Bayer 04 app, as well as on Werkself.tv (exclusively for members). Just log on and watch the games live. All the other Werkself preseason friendlies leading up to the 2026/27 season will also be streamed live for free.
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