In last season’s Europa League campaign, the powerful striker scored two goals for Saint-Gilloise in the two quarter-final games against the Werkself. In front of a full house at the BayArena, Boniface put the Belgian side ahead in the 1-1 draw.
"Victor Boniface has been on our radar for some time," said the Leverkusen sporting managing director Simon Rolfes, "His performance against us absolutely confirmed our positive assessment. Victor is a very commanding and difficult to handle centre forward who will be a challenge for every defender with his physicality. In addition, he is also quick and has good technique," said Rolfes. "Over the long term, we now have a strong and versatile striker with potential in our ranks. He will help us improve the quality of our squad for the large number of games in the Bundesliga, DFB Cup and the Europa League."
For the 6'2" Boniface, the move to Leverkusen is "a special opportunity I definitely wanted to take up. I've already experienced the atmosphere here at the stadium and back then was able to assess the possibilities at this club," said Boniface who scored six goals and provided two assists in ten Europa League games with Saint-Gilloise last term. "After our talks I now know: This is a top club with a brilliant team. I'm really looking forward to playing football here and I want to play my part in the future success of Bayer 04."
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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There were celebrations among those in black and red at the RheinEnergieSTADION. On Matchday 9 of the 2026/27 Bundesliga season, the Werkself beat 1. FC Köln 2-0 and registered their sixth successive win in the derby. Aleix Garcia put Bayer 04 in front after just seven minutes with a direct free kick. Leverkusen played with discipline and energy after that and didn't allow some fierce challenges to unsettle them. Patrik Schick made it 2-0 in the 86th minute, and Said El Mala's goal in stoppage time for Köln proved nothing more than consolation. Jonas Hofmann crowned the derby win with his 100th appearance for the club.
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