The Werkself discovered how difficult it is to beat Eintracht Frankfurt first hand in a 2-1 defeat just after New Year. But it was well known before that that they are a hard nut to crack this season. Frankfurt have only lost two of 15 games in the Bundesliga this season – as few as the leading trio of Bayern, Leipzig and Bayer 04. Their next win came on Saturday – Eintracht beat Mainz away 2-0 with penalties from centre forward André Silva in their third league win in succession. And it was a prestigious three points: Frankfurt picked up their first win in their seventeenth away game at the neighbours from Mainz. "It does you good to end a run like that," said coach Adi Hütter after the game. "The better team won when you look at the 90 minutes."
Eintracht Frankfurt will be in confident mood ahead of the second clash with the Werkself in nine days – and they have really felt at home in the DFB Cup in recent years. Frankfurt have made the semi-finals in three of the past four seasons and in 2018 they went on to lift the trophy in the final against FC Bayern. Eintracht had a tough draw in the first round match in this season's competition. Playing against 1860 Munich, a top team in the third division, the Eagles were unable to relax at any point in the game and ended up with a narrow 2-1 win with goals from Silva and the now departed Bas Dost (Club Brugge) – and now they face the Werkself. "We've got every chance and we’ll do everything we can to go through," announced Hütter.
The Austrian coach has to manage without one of his most important players. Filip Kostic was sent off in the quarter-final victory against Werder Bremen last year just before the suspension due to coronavirus for a foul on former Leverkusen player Ömer Toprak and he was suspended for four DFB Cup ties. That means he is unable to play on Tuesday. The vacant position on the left wing will probably be taken by Steven Zuber who arrived from Hoffenheim in the summer. In contrast to the Bundesliga meeting, Sebastian Rode is able to play again. The midfielder served a one-match ban.
The fact the DFB Cup draw has thrown up Eintracht as the opponents could be a good omen from a Werkself perspective. Many supporters will be able to remember the only previous DFB Cup game between the two teams: Bayer 04 won 3-0 in Frankfurt in the semi-finals in March 1993 thanks to a brace from Andreas Thom and a goal from Ulf Kirsten. The win paved the way to Berlin – and what happened there is well known: Bayer 04 won the DFB Cup for the first and only time to date. Nobody in the Black and Red camp will have anything against history repeating itself…
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...
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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 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…
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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.
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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.
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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.
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