
The Werkself are one of 48 teams qualified for the 48th season of this European club competition. Bayer 04 qualified by finishing fifth in the Bundesliga last season thus avoiding the play-offs that 31 clubs have been involved in over recent weeks – the final qualifiers will be played on Thursday.
In accordance with club coefficients, the 48 clubs will be divided into four pots. There will be 12 teams in each of the four pots. The 12 groups will consist of a team drawn from each of the pots. Bayer 04 will be in the first pot along with Arsenal, Chelsea and Villareal. Clubs from the same association (from Germany they are the cup winners Eintracht Frankfurt and possibly RB Leipzig) cannot meet at the group stage. The Werkself will be represented at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco on Friday by Fernando Carro (chairman of the board), Lennart Coerdt (assistant director sport) and Simon Pallmann (operational business section).
DAZN hold the rights to all 205 Europa League games from the current season to 2021 and the streaming service will broadcast the draw on Friday live from 13.00 CET. In addition, the two TV broadcasters RTL and RTL Nitro will broadcast 15 games on free TV. On each matchday, the TV contract with the RTL media group guarantees one exclusive live broadcast plus highlights from all the other games.
Matchday 1: 20 September
Matchday 2: 4 October
Matchday 3: 25 October
Matchday 4: 8 November
Matchday 5: 29 November
Matchday 6: 13 December

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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Bayer 04 Leverkusen has gained a new partner in digital gaming platform Crown Coins, which joins the Bundesliga runners-up's Sponsors Club with immediate effect. The one-and-a-half-year contract runs until 30 June 2027.
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The Werkself host VfB Stuttgart this evening (10 January, 18:30 CET), a side whose recent Bundesliga form has been indifferent but who have regularly produced top performances in the DFB Pokal and UEFA Europa League, and who have a key player back in the squad in striker Ermedin Demirovic. Off the pitch, the BayArena faithful will be able to see the remaining stoppage time live on the video screens. The Matchday News.
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The Werkself face a tough challenge in the first game of 2026 when VfB Stuttgart visit the BayArena on Saturday, 10 January (kick-off: 18:30 CET). Ahead of the top-of-the-table clash, Kasper Hjulmand spoke about his impressions of training this week, anticipation of the start of the new calendar year and the personnel situation.
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