Ahead of the West clash, the primary aim for the Bayer 04 Women is to deal with the setback of last weekend’s 2-1 defeat at Werder Bremen. “The effects of the game are still evident in our legs. I didn’t think we would have another game this season as difficult to get into as the one against Bremen,” admitted Achim Feifel, whose contract has been extended by three years this week. “We have to put everything into the final run-in that we can. The Bremen match was definitely not a walk in the park, quite the opposite: Teams threatened by relegation throw everything into the mix from mentality through to the will to win to stay in the league. We weren’t prepared for that in Bremen. We can expect the same against SV Meppen and SC Sand.” The coach wants to see “an appropriate reaction” to the recent defeat in Friday’s game against Essen.
Ahead of the clash, SGS Essen, in seventh place, are not too far behind the Werkself Women with a five-point deficit having played one game less. “Essen lost a lot of key players in the summer and they had to put a new team together but they have progressed well over the course of the season. They have young, hungry players who can counter attack quickly, a dangerous attack and a plan of how to play their games,” warned Feifel. “Therefore, I think it will be an open game.”
After a long injury lay-off, Sylwia Matysik will be able to make her comeback against Essen. There is a question mark over Henrietta Csiszár who returned from international duty with Hungary with an ankle problem. Definitely ruled out against SGS are Viktoria Pinther (back problem), Verena Wieder (knee), Lara Marti (calf) and Jessica Wich, who has suffered another knee injury.
For the third time in succession, the Bayer 04 Women’s home game on Friday will be broadcast live on Eurosport. The last two games ended in victory – “Perhaps, we have one or two players who might get a boost when the game is on TV. If that’s the case then hopefully it will work again on Friday,” said the Bayer 04 coach with a smile.
More on the game, the two squads, matchday information and an interview with Gianna Rackow are in the current Rasenreport. HERE is the e-paper.
It couldn't have been any tighter! Despite winning four of six games in the online preliminary round in Showdown 1 of the VBL Club Championship 2026/27, Leverkusen eSports duo Marc and Sean Landwehr didn't make it through to the offline knockout round. Level on points (12) with seven other teams, Leverkusen were the only team with this points tally not to progress as they had the worst single-game record compared to their rivals.
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Bayer 04 are away to Croatian champions Dinamo Zagreb on Matchday 5 of the league phase of the 2026/27 UEFA Europa League. The game kicks off on Thursday 26 November at 18:45 CET at the Maksimir Stadium. All the information on ticket sales.
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It wasn’t just on the pitch that there was cause for celebration around the Werkself’s 2–1 home win against SC Freiburg. Plenty of happy faces could be seen near the dugouts at half-time too. Once again, CEO Fernando Carro, alongside former striker and club ambassador Stefan Kießling, paid tribute to eight supporters’ clubs celebrating up to their 30th anniversary on behalf of Bayer 04.
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A disciplined and impressive team performance secured a 2–1 victory for the Werkself against league leaders SC Freiburg, who had remained unbeaten across all competitions until then; two players once again stood out at the BayArena: Artisic dribbler Ibrahim Maza scored Leverkusen’s first goal himself and set up the second, whilst goal-getter Patrik Schick had set up the equaliser and netted the winner. In doing so, the Czechia international set a remarkable club record. Both head coach Carles Martínez and the media were full of praise afterwards. Maza himself was also delighted with the growing rapport with “super striker” Schick: “The more we play together, the better we understand each other.” The Werkself’s comeback secured their fourth home win in their fourth home game of the season.
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