"Ready for the next strike" – the Werkself are looking to take another big step in the direction of qualifying for the knockout stages of the Europa League with a win against Be’er Sheva. The BayArena Aktuell matchday magazine provides facts on #B04HBS, introduces the Israeli team and draws an interesting comparison between Julian Baumgartlinger and Be'er Sheva's Mariano Bareiro. The magazine is available (in German) HERE.
As with the visitors from Israel, the UEFA referee Pawel Gil will again be on the pitch with the Black and Reds for a second time on Thursday night. The 44-year-old Pole refereed the Europa League home game against FC Zurich in November 2018, which Bayer 04 won 1-0 thanks to a headed goal from Tin Jedvaj.
The Hapoel team arrived at the BayArena on Wednesday night after a long journey from Israel. Head coach Yossi Abukasis and defender Sean Goldberg made their way straight to the pre-match press conference in the media centre at the stadium. Ahead of the return match, Goldberg talked about a "tough challenge that we have to deal with as a team."
Head coach Abukasis confirmed in answer to a journalist why the key player Josué did not travel to Leverkusen. There was an altercation between the Portuguese and one of his teammates in training. "I decided not to take him with us and I received the full backing of the club," said the 50-year-old.
While the visitors from Be'er Sheva were able to hold their final pre-match training session at the BayArena following the press conference, the roof of the Werkself stadium was lit up in orange. Bayer 04 were thereby showing the club's commitment to the 'Orange your City' campaign making a clear stand against sexual violence. The Water Tower, the Leverkusen Clinic and other buildings in the city will also lit up in this colour on the 'International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women'.
The world of football was shaken by this news on Wednesday: Diego Maradona, one of the best players of all time, has passed away at the age of 60. "His death has hit me hard. He was born the same year as me and we were often opponents at World Cups and in Italy. A wonderful player. His premature death is a bitter blow for football and for Diego's family," said Rudi Völler. The Bayer 04 sporting managing director faced Maradona at the 1990 World Cup final when Germany beat Argentina 1-0.
There will be a minute's silence in honour of Maradona at the Europa League match between Bayer 04 and Be’er Sheva.
Bayer 04 lost 3-0 away at Bayern Munich on Matchday 9 in the Bundesliga on Saturday. Serge Gnabry and Nicolas Jackson netted for the unbeaten league leaders in the first half, with Loïc Badé’s own goal before the break rounding out the scoring.
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The Werkself are away at Bayern Munich, who have won all 14 of their competitive fixtures in 2025/26, for Saturday evening’s Bundesliga match (kick-off: 18:30 CET). However, Bayer 04 are also in good form themselves, earning 16 of a possible 18 points in their six league games under Kasper Hjulmand. The 2023/24 double winners are also unbeaten in their last five Bundesliga meetings with the reigning champions. Here’s all you need to know ahead of the game at the Allianz Arena.
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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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After the disappointing 5-1 defeat against VfL Wolfsburg, the Bayer 04 Women had two weeks to regroup. On Sunday, 2 November (13:00 CET, ad-hoc arena at Erst-Abbe-Sportfeld), coach Roberto Pätzold's team will be aiming for their fifth win of the season on matchday 8 in the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga.
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