The reason for Bayer 04 qualifying for the Europa League – instead of the play-offs in the Conference League – is the following rule: The team finishing sixth in the Bundesliga enters the group stage of the Europa League providing the DFB Cup winner has already qualified for Europe via the league route. That is the case here as RB Leipzig finished third in the Bundesliga and therefore qualified for the Champions League.
Who the Werkself will face in the group stage of the Europa League will be decided at the draw on 1 September. Bayer 04 are in pot one. Also in pot one, and thereby excluded as immediate potential opponents, are the winners of this year’s Conference League (Fiorentina or West Ham United) plus Liverpool and Villareal. Another impossible pairing is against the second German team in the competition, SC Freiburg, who are in a different pot.
The date for the opening match in the group stage is already confirmed: The first fixture is on Thursday 21 September. The last game in the group is set for 14 December. The knockout stage begins in the New Year with the first leg of the play-offs on 15 February 2024. The final will be played at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on 22 May 2024.
The European jersey has been launched, the UEL opponents have been drawn – and anticipation for the European campaign is running high. To mark the occasion, an autograph session was held on Friday afternoon, 28 August, at the Fanwelt with current Werkself player Montrell Culbreath and official club legend Paulo Sergio.
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After six and a half years, Exequiel Palacios is leaving the Bundesliga and moving from Bayer 04 to the Premier League. The Argentine, who as a Werkself player won the World Cup with his national team four years ago and finished as runners-up at this summer’s tournament, will play for newly promoted English side Ipswich Town with immediate effect. The 27-year-old, whose contract in Leverkusen was due to run until 30 June 2030, joined Bayer 04 in January 2020 as a promising young talent. He steadily developed into one of the best defensive midfielders in the German top flight.
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When Exequiel Palacios moved from the Argentinian club River Plate to Bayer Leverkusen on 1 January 2020, the then 21-year-old could not have imagined just how successful the next six and a half years would be for him. Pala, as he is known, had already won the Copa Libertadores – the most prestigious competition in South American club football – with River Plate. But there were still so many more trophies to come.
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To mark Exequiel Palacios’s departure, we’ve put together a compilation of the midfielder’s finest and most important goals from his six-and-a-half years at the club.
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