The first three points are in the bag and the Werkself women are looking to double that total on Friday night. After the away win at Freiburg, the team go into the next game with momentum. “It’s good if you win the first game straight off as it gives you a boost,” said Feifel, who refuses to get carried away: “A positive mood is good but we have to keep our feet on the ground. At the end of the day, we can’t say everything went brilliantly in the first game. We have to be realistic as some things didn’t work against Freiburg and we have to put that right.”
Duisburg started the season with a goalless draw against newly promoted SV Meppen. Last season, the MSV Women, who appointed the former Bayer 04 assistant coach Niko Schneck (2017-2018 under Heiko Herrlich) as assistant to head coach Thomas Gerstner in the summer, were a direct rival for Leverkusen in the battle to avoid relegation. MSV had the upper hand in the head-to-head games in 2019/20 winning both home and away. Feifel is also expecting Duisburg to present a tough challenge in the new season: “The opponents are almost as strong as last season. The squad has more or less stayed the same. They are tough in defence, defend well and are compact, are physical and have players who want to force the opponents into making challenges.”
The coach demands: “We have to perform to the max at our level. We have to see every game and every opponent in the Bundesliga as a big challenge as that’s the only way we’ll be able to get a result in every match.”
In terms of personnel, Bayer 04 have all but one player available from last weekend’s squad: Milena Nikolic replaces Barbara Reger. Pauline Wimmer (torn cruciate), Verena Wieder (rehab after torn cruciate), Sofie Zdebel, Joyce Prabel (both muscle injuries) and Nico Banecki (absent through illness) are also sidelined.
The match at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium will be played behind closed doors. Bayer 04 fans can follow the game from home: Eurosport is broadcasting the match live on Free TV and the encounter is on the streaming service MagentaSport.
Video game producer Electronic Arts (EA) has announced the nominees for the Men's and Women's Team of the Year (TOTY) for EA Sports FC 26. With Patrik Schick and Alejandro Grimaldo for the men and Vanessa Fudalla for the women, there are three Bayer 04 players included. Fans of the Black-and-Reds can vote for each top XI of 2025 from now until 18:59 CET on Monday 12 January.
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The Werkself host Mainz at the BayArena on matchday 24 in the 2025/26 Bundesliga season. The match is on Saturday, 28 February, at 15:30 CET. Information on ticket sales.
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The long-standing successful collaboration between Bayer 04 and the transport service provider wupsi GmbH has been expanded: From January 2026, 100 wupsi bikes with Bayer 04 branding will be available for hire throughout the city of Leverkusen. They will complement the many existing offers and services that provide key support, especially for fans travelling to and from home matches at the BayArena.
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The Werkself are back! Following the two-week winter break, head coach Kasper Hjulmand's team began the new year with an open session on Sunday. After Robert Andrich and his teammates arrived in Leverkusen yesterday for the official check-in, they got back down to business a day later in front of around 1,200 fans at the Ulrich Haberland Stadion. The report from the Werkself's first session of 2026.
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