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.
Issa Traoré is moving from Bayer 04 Leverkusen to Slovakian top-flight side AS Trencin. The club has loaned the centre-back out for one year to this year’s ninth-placed team in the Slovakian league.
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Assistant coach Remzi Kahraman is leaving the Bayer 04 Women’s team with immediate effect to take up a new challenge abroad. The club has agreed to the 31-year-old’s request to leave, although his contract was originally due to run until 2027. A decision on his successor will be announced shortly.
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At the U19 European Championship in Wales, the Germany U19 national team lost their third and final group match 4-0 to Spain. Several regulars, including Bayer 04 players Montrell Culbreath and Francis Onyeka (on loan to SV Elversberg), who had combined for four goals and assists in the two previous victories, did not feature,. Germany had already secured their place in the semi-finals with a game to spare.
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Two weeks into the preseason, the Bayer 04 Women have secured their first victory. Coach Roberto Pätzold’s team won their first friendly 2–0 against Bundesliga newcomers Mainz 05. In front of 160 spectators at the Kurtekotten Performance Centre, the two summer signings, Maja Sternad (80’) and Justine Brandau (90’), scored for the Black and Reds.
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