Bayer 04 and Peter Bosz agreed a contract extension on 17 January and announced the Dutch coach would stay at the club to 2022. Bosz's previous record is impressive: The Werkself have played 58 games under him and picked up an average of 1.90 points per match – no other Bayer 04 head coach, in charge for more than ten games, has a better average. By comparison: Jupp Heynckes averaged 1.87 points in his two seasons at Bayer 04. The only ones better than that were caretaker managers: Peter Hermann (1 game/3 points on average), Rudi Völler (7/2.43) and Sascha Lewandowski (54/1.94).
2020 is only three months old and will certainly still have some highlights up its sleeve. But one has already happened: the 4-3 home win against Borussia Dortmund. In spite of BVB leading twice, the hosts turned the game round in 82 seconds late on with goals from Leon Bailey and Lars Bender. Kevin Volland also bagged a brace.
This time they came incredibly close. On 15 February, the score in the Bundesliga match between Union Berlin and Bayer 04 was 2-2 on 90 minutes – a flattering result from a Werkself perspective who produced a below-par performance at the An der Alten Försterei stadium. For the first time ever, it looked like the Berlin team were going to take a point from a clash with the Black and Reds. Then Karim Bellarabi scored in the 04th minute of added time to make it 3-2 and destroy the Union dream. After the Werkself also came out on top in the DFB Cup quarter-final tie against Union two and a half weeks later, the record for the Berliners against the Werkself is now: five games – five defeats.
FC Augsburg have been waiting even longer for a win against Bayer 04. The 2-0 defeat on 23 February was the 20th attempt in a competitive fixture (Bundesliga and DFB Cup). The record to date for FCA: 14 defeats, 6 draws – and not a single win.
This loss hurts: Kevin Volland was also in top form in 2020 and always good for a goal or two – but the 27-year-old striker suffered a torn ankle ligament in the Europa League game against FC Porto. Time out injured: approximately three months. Volland underwent an operation immediately and is now in rehab. A comeback before the end of the season looked to be tight – now that appears to be more realistic if the season extended due to the coronavirus pandemic. Volland is hopeful: “I’m making great progress. I’m confident complete recovery could happen one or two weeks earlier than planned.”
Bayer 04 can look back at 999 away goals in the Bundesliga with the last one netted by Leon Bailey on 1 March at RB Leipzig. Who will make it 1,000? We will have to wait patiently for the answer...
“I just wanted to show what I can do. Perhaps some people don’t know me that well,” said Paulinho in explaining his goal celebration after the 4-0 win against Eintracht Frankfurt – he ran to the North Stand and bowed to the fans. The Brazilian, in his first start for Bayer 04, repaid that with a double and an assist. Since detailed records have been kept, (2004/05), Paulinho is the first player at Bayer 04 to be involved in three goals in a Bundesliga game on their first start.
Winter signing Exequiel Palacios made his debut on 5 February in the DFB Cup tie against VfB Stuttgart. The Argentinean played for the full 90 minutes in his first outing and has played three games since.
Following the Werkself going out of the Champions League at the end of last year after finishing third in the group, the club were in the Europa League in 2020. And with great success! Bayer 04 fans witnessed brilliant performances from their Werkself team: The Peter Bosz team comfortably beat FC Porto in the Round of 32 with a 2-1 home win and a 3-1 victory away and the Werkself also impressed in the Round of 16 first leg with a 3-1 win at Glasgow Rangers: And hopefully there is more to come!
But then it all came to a stop – at least for the time being. The match in Glasgow was the last game in front of a crowd; as it turned out, the last before the postponement of domestic and European games due to coronavirus. The match will certainly be remembered by the 900 travelling Werkself fans. The atmosphere during the game and particularly after the final whistle was brilliant! A little party before the break.
Werkself-TV shows the highlights of the Bayer 04 women's 1-2 loss at VfL Wolfsburg on the 20th matchday of the Google Pixel Frauen-Bundesliga 2025/26.
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The Bundesliga home game against VfL Wolfsburg in the first half of the season was one of those classic ‘days to forget’ for Bayer 04 Women. It started with goalkeeper Charlotte Voll being shown a red card in the first minute of the game, and following a further sending-off, coach Roberto Pätzold's 9-women side ended up losing 5-1 to last season's runners-up. At 18.30 CET on Sunday, they'll have the chance to exact revenge at the AOK Stadium - and pick up valuable points in the race for third place.
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Bayern Munich come to the BayArena this Saturday with an 11-point lead in the Bundesliga as they look to take a step closer to the title. As imperious as they may seem, a weakness has emerged of late that the Werkself proved they can exploit in Wednesday’s 1-1 draw with Arsenal in the Champions League. Leverkusen are also looking to make it four Bundesliga home games unbeaten against the Bavarians. Here’s all you need to know ahead of the 15:30 CET kick-off in our matchday news.
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Another home game, another top opponent - another marker? Three days after their convincing performance in the 1-1 draw with Arsenal in the UEFA Champions League round of 16 first leg, Bayer 04 continue their Bundesliga campaign with an equally high-calibre fixture. Matchday 26 sees league leaders Bayern Munich visit the sold-out BayArena. Ahead of the clash, head coach Kasper Hjulmand spoke about a comparison between Arsenal and the Bavarians, Bayern's high-scoring performance in Europe's premier club competition and a return to the squad for one Werkself player.
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High spirits and previously untold stories: Around 100 Bayer 04 fans packed the Schwadbud fan pub in the east stand of the BayArena on Thursday evening to be there in person for the first instalment of the new series of events entitled “Rudi lädt ein” (Rudi invites you). They listened intently as long-serving Werkself players Gonzalo Castro and Stefan Kießling chatted with record appearance-maker Rüdiger Vollborn and presenter and stadium announcer Tobias Ufer about their many years together at the club, shared amusing anecdotes and revealed dressing room secrets. Anyone who missed the premiere can already look forward to the second instalment – on 12 May, Rudi will be testing the expert knowledge of Bayer 04 fans during a quiz night.
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