Among the match-ups over the next four weeks in North Africa are a Bayer 04 clash between Tapsoba’s Burkina Faso and Maza’s Algeria in Group E on Sunday, 28 December.
AFCON fixtures for Bayer 04 players (times in CET):
Eliesse Ben Seghir (Morocco - Group A):
Edmond Tapsoba (Burkina Faso - Group E):
Ibrahim Maza (Algeria - Group E):
Christian Kofane (Cameroon - Group F):
The top two from the six groups of four, together with the four best-placed third-placed teams, will advance to the round of 16, to be played from 3 to 6 January.
Should any players progress to the quarter-finals (9-10 January), they will miss the Werkself’s return to competitive action at home to VfB Stuttgart on 10 January (18:30). The semi-finals will be played on 14 January, the third-place play-off on 17 January and the final on 18 January. Leverkusen players who go beyond the quarters will also miss the Bundesliga encounters at Hamburg (13 January) and Hoffenheim (17 January).
“Year after year, this is an incredibly valuable gathering, both in terms of the content covered and the opportunity for mutual discussion,” stressed Bayer 04 goalkeeping coach David Thiel in his welcoming address at this year’s goalkeeping coaches’ meeting. This was the third time in four seasons that the event had been held at the BayArena. Organised by the German Football Association (DFB), the meeting brought together goalkeeping coaches from the Bundesliga, Bundesliga 2 and the 3rd division from the west region. For the first time this year, goalkeeping coaches from the youth performance centres (NLZ) were also present. Bayer 04 fitness coach Markus Müller provided fascinating insights into the specific fitness training carried out with the Werkself’s goalkeepers.
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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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