The DFB have appointed Florian Badstünber to oversee this last match of the year. The 31-year-old has taken charge of two previous Leverkusen fixtures, with a win and loss each. His assistants are Markus Schüller and Christian Leicher. Johann Pfeifer is the VAR.
The Werkself can look forward to another sell-out crowd of 30,210 at the BayArena this afternoon. It’s the sixth time this season the stadium has been at capacity. Xabi Alonso and his team have recorded wins over Schalke and Union Berlin, as well as progressing to the UEFA Europa League, in front of a full house. Bayer 04 will want another positive result to send the fans into the World Cup and the new year happy.
As part of today's Bundesliga match with Stuttgart, the club is calling for donations of food for the Leverkusener Tafel e.V.. For more than 20 years, the non-profit association has been supporting the now more than 5,000 needy citizens of Leverkusen by distributing food. Also due to the increased food costs, the demand is enormously high in these times, so we ask our Bayer 04 fans to participate in the campaign at today's home match against Stuttgart. Food can be dropped off in front of the stadium entrances of blocks B1 and B2 (east side of the BayArena). The fan support team will be there to accept the donations. The Tafel Leverkusen has also drawn up a ‘wish list’ of particularly urgently needed foodstuffs for this purpose. You can read more about this HERE.
Bayer 04 welcome their favourite opponent this matchday. There’s no team Leverkusen have beaten as often in the Bundesliga as Stuttgart (39). The Werkself have lost only one of the last 20 top-flight encounters. That 1-0 defeat in April 2018 was also the only time in their last eight trips to Leverkusen that VfB have claimed a point. The remaining seven results since 2013 have all been Werkself wins. Stuttgart are also on a 16-game winless run away from home in the Bundesliga (D8, L8) and have won just one of 23 away fixtures since the start of last season (D11, L11) – that was a 2-0 victory at Wolfsburg back in December 2021.
VfB had a poor start to the season, failing to win any of their opening nine games, sitting 17th with just five points. It saw coach Pellegrino Matarazzo dismissed and replaced on an interim basis by Michael Wimmer. Things have improved under the 42-year-old, who has won four of his six competitive fixtures at the helm. It’s the same amount his predecessor managed in his final 29 matches. However, all four of Wimmer’s wins have come at home, with both away games ending in defeat at Dortmund (5-0) and Gladbach (3-1). It’s a problem that has plagued the club all year, having failed to win on the road at all in 2022.
The visitors also come to the BayArena without injured captain Wataru Endo and the suspended Konstantinos Mavropanos. Read more about our opponents HERE.
The Stuttgart game can be followed as ever on Werkself Radio. The audio broadcast starts 30 minutes before kick-off with commentators Cedric Pick and Niko Hartmann reporting live from the BayArena. In addition, the live text service will provide updates so there is no need to miss any the action. Both Werkself Radio and the live text updates can be found at bayer04.de and on the Bayer 04 app.
Due to the suspended S-Bahn around Leverkusen-Mitte station, there will still be challenges getting to and from the stadium. Further information will be published and constantly updated on the websites of Deutsche Bahn and wupsi.
In their third friendly of this pre-season, Bayer 04 played on home soil for the first time – and won there too! The Werkself claimed a comfortable 4-0 victory against Belgian top-flight side KRC Genk at the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion. Jeanuel Belocian (9’) and Nathan Tella (42’) gave a dominant Leverkusen a 2-0 lead at the break, which Afonso Moreira (51’) and Christian Kofane (53’) doubled after the break. Among the many second-half substitutions was Patrik Schick, who made his first friendly appearance of the summer.
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The Werkself are finally back. On Saturday 8 August, Bayer 04 kick off the 2026/27 campaign with their opening match. But there’s far more than just a double-header in store for Werkself supporters. True to the motto ‘One day. Two teams. One club’, the BayArena and the Ulrich Haberland Stadium will be transformed into a world of excitement.
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The Werkself continue their 2026/27 pre-season preparations with their third friendly against Belgian top-flight side KRC Genk at the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion on Wednesday 29 July (kick-off 15:00 CEST). Werkself-TV is broadcasting the match live and in full in a stream from 14:50 CEST...
After the children from the Bayer 04 Football Academy grilled Janis Blaswich and Simeon Rapsch last week, another group of 20 young Werkself fans gathered at the BayArena press conference room on Tuesday afternoon, 28 July . This time, the kids directed their questions at Tim Oermann and Jonah Berghoff. Defender Oermann raved about his school days, whilst talented midfielder Berghoff revealed to the young footballers, amongst other things, who his favourite player is – and he is also at Bayer 04. To round things off, the pair naturally obliged with all requests for autographs and selfies.
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Bayer 04 are back on the pitch. Following the first training sessions, the Werkself play the first pre-season friendly on Saturday, July 18. The match against Oberliga club Sportfreunde Baumberg kicks off at 15:30 CEST in Monheim am Rhein. Fans unable to attend the match can watch head coach Carles Martínez’s first game in charge for free via a livestream at bayer04.de and on the Bayer 04 app, as well as on Werkself.tv (exclusively for members). Just log on and watch the games live. All the other Werkself preseason friendlies leading up to the 2026/27 season will also be streamed live for free.
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