The Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger headline reads: "Bayer storm into the knockout rounds." The report continues: "Bayer 04 were in the mood for a win – and a cracker as in the first game against Nice." The journal dug up an historic fact: The starting eleven head coach Peter Bosz fielded on the Côte d'Azur, with the oldest in the club's history in this competition.
The highest marks went to Aleksandar Dragovic, Nadiem Amiri and Moussa Diaby.
The Kölnische Rundschau declared the Black and Reds were "hungry for goals", which is confirmed by the fact the Werkself have scored the most goals (17) of all the teams in the Europa League after five out of six group matches. Commenting on the opening stages: "Leverkusen grabbed hold of the game and pressed for an early lead. […] The hosts were hardly involved in the match. Kerem Demirbay set up Diaby's opener with an impressive chipped pass."
"To dispel all doubts about progressing to the next round, Peter Bosz opted for an experienced team in this away game," was the start of the match report in the Rheinische Post. The Werkself were 2-1 up at half-time, which the paper describes as deserved "due to control of the game and the better chances."
The headline in the Bild reads: "Despite trouble with the ref! Bayer express train races through to next round." With the headline, the newspaper addresses the top performances of selected Werkself players. The explanation: "Express train because the outstanding Demirbay set up the opening goal with a world-class pass, which the Frenchman Moussa Diaby (22') converted with a volley – a magical goal. Express train because Aleksandar Dragovic smashed in a volley from an Amiri corner to make it 2-1 (32')."
In the view of the tabloid, the Werkself could have scored more goals. A follow-up explains: "Just annoying that the Italian ref Maurizio Mariani denied a clear penalty (foul on Diaby/5') and a goal from Schick (not offside/24'). VAR is only available in the Europa League from the knockout rounds. But Leverkusen are now through…"
With twelve points, Slavia Prague are now also through to the knockout rounds. The two teams meet at the BayArena next Thursday 10 December (kick-off: 18.55 CET) "in the final to win the group."
Werkself-TV shows the highlights of the Bayer 04 women's 0-1 loss at Eintracht Frankfurt on the 17th matchday of the Google Pixel Frauen-Bundesliga 2025/26.
Show more
Calling all eSports fans: On Saturday, 21 February (from 16:00 CET), the Werkself Wildcard Cup will take place at XPERION Köln (Hansaring 97, 50670 Cologne). Interested EA FC 26 amateur players will have the opportunity to win attractive prizes and a place in the VBL Open Play-offs by WOW. The play-offs are the final preliminary stage of the VBL Grand Final by WOW, the tournament for the German individual championship and, alongside the club championship (VBL CC), the most important sub-competition in the German eSports scene. Read on for information on registration.
Show more
At its first general meeting on 5 February 2026 in Frankfurt am Main, the Frauen Bundesliga FBL e.V. made key decisions regarding the future direction of the Women’s Bundesliga. The meeting was based on the results of the negotiations with the German Football Association (DFB) over the past few weeks.
Show more
The Bayer 04 U19s have bowed out of the UEFA Youth League following a thrilling knockout game. In the round of 32 at Villarreal, Emmanuel Chigozie Owen (11) and Ivan Massek (18) turned an early deficit into a 2-1 half-time lead. However, the Spaniards struck back in the second half to make the final score 3-2, which earned them a place in the round of 16 and brought the Werkself's European campaign to an end.
Show more
