The Black and Reds got off to a flying start in the Bundesliga campaign under head coach Reinhard Saftig. After 12 games, the Werkself were in second spot two points behind league leaders Bayern Munich. A dip in form followed with the first half of the season ending with Bayer 04 in sixth place. During the winter break, the then Bayer 04 general manager Reiner Calmund decided to bring in Dragoslav Stepanovic from Frankfurt as the new coach for the following season.
In the second half of the Bundesliga campaign, the Werkself picked up seven out of a possible 12 points (under the two points for a win rule) before facing Eintracht Frankfurt in the previously mentioned cup semi-final on 30 March. While the Hertha Berlin Amateurs surprisingly beat second division Chemnitz FC in the other semi-final, Bayer 04 and Eintracht Frankfurt were both in the top-flight. The team under head coach Saftig secured a convincing 3-0 victory over Eintracht who were then third in the table. The legendary front two of Ulf Kirsten and Andreas Thom (2) scored all three goals, to take the Werkself through to the final at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin.
Immediately after the game, the Eintracht coach Dragoslav Stepanovic resigned and was initially an adviser for his future employers Bayer 04. Five weeks later, general manager Calmund gave head coach Saftig his marching orders; Stepanovic took over the helm and the Werkself beat the Hertha Berlin Amateurs 1-0 – Kirsten scored the goal on 77 minutes – to lift the DFB Cup for the first time in the club's history.
Match stats from DFB Cup semi-final 1993:
Eintracht Frankfurt: Stein – Bindewald, Binz, Tskhadadze – Weber, Komljenovic (Studer 74'), Bein, Falkenmayer (Yeboah 72'), Bommer – Schmitt, Kruse
Bayer 04: Vollborn – Kree, Foda, Wörns – Stöver, Lupescu, Hapal, Fischer, von Ahlen (Scholz 67') – Thom, Kirsten (Tolkmitt 80')
Goals: 0-1 Thom (6’), 0-2 Kirsten (72’), 0-3 Thom (75’)
Referee: Manfred Harder
Booked: Tskhadadze, Schmitt – von Ahlen, Kirsten
Sent off: Bindewald (55.)
Attendance: 35,000 at Frankfurt's Waldstadion
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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