The design of the new Bayer 04 home shirt has been designed together with kit supplier Castore in conjunction with Werkself fans. "The Bayer Cross is an important, identity-creating symbol for our supporters," said Marcus Breglec, chief marketing & innovation officer at Bayer 04. "A lot of fans asked for this to be more clearly represented on the Werkself home shirt." A second, much bigger cross is on the chest of the shirt in the style of the Bayer Cross on the club badge and the flags in the home end.
"It stands both for our tradition as well as our desire for high quality and performance," said Harald Hartel, head of brand at Bayer 04. "The Bayer Cross is well known throughout the world and people everywhere see it as a sort of seal of quality. Few clubs have such a strong trademark."
The new shirt has also gone down well with the players. "For me, the cross on the chest expresses a big sense of community, it's a great symbol of the togetherness of fans and the team," declared captain Lukas Hradecky.
The new home shirt is made 100% of polyester and has a stretch fit. Shirts are available in children's sizes 128 to 164 (at the price of €64.90) and adult sizes S to 5XL (at the price of €84.90).
It was another incredibly close call in the end: The second showdown in the 2026/27 VBL Club Championship saw the #B04eSports team once again narrowly miss out on a place in the top 16 of the preliminary round – and with it, a spot in the in-person knockout stage. It was a bitter blow: Marc and Sean Landwehr again fell just short, despite being level on points with their rivals. As was the case last month, their weaker record across the twelve individual matches in the six preliminary round fixtures proved decisive.
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“They stuck with us over the past few weeks when things weren’t going so well,” said captain Edmond Tapsoba, thanking the fans for their support after the 2–1 win in Cologne and dedicating the derby victory to them. Throughout the 90 minutes, the Werkself had looked unfazed and in command, inflicting the first home defeat of the season on FC Köln. It was the sixth consecutive win against the Cologne team for Bayer 04 – head coach Carles Martínez, on the other hand, was facing the team from the neighbouring city for the first time and “now really knows what this derby win means”. The Werkself derby review.
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Following the 2–1 derby victory away at FC Köln on Bundesliga matchday 9, Edmond Tapsoba, Malik Tillman and Aleix Garcia spoke to Werkself TV...
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Werkself TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04's 2-1 derby win at 1. FC Köln Matchday 9 of the 2026/27 Bundesliga season...
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There were celebrations among those in black and red at the RheinEnergieSTADION. On Matchday 9 of the 2026/27 Bundesliga season, the Werkself beat 1. FC Köln 2-0 and registered their sixth successive win in the derby. Aleix Garcia put Bayer 04 in front after just seven minutes with a direct free kick. Leverkusen played with discipline and energy after that and didn't allow some fierce challenges to unsettle them. Patrik Schick made it 2-0 in the 86th minute, and Said El Mala's goal in stoppage time for Köln proved nothing more than consolation. Jonas Hofmann crowned the derby win with his 100th appearance for the club.
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