The French forward was enthusiastic: "The atmosphere was great as was the performance! It's brilliant to see there's another high quality sport in Leverkusen alongside the football," he said after the game.
The city has long been known for a close relationship between Bayer AG, football and many other top level sports. The stories will be bundled together under the name Bayer Sports Family and presented on the digital channels with the matching hashtag #BayerSportsFamily.
The first episode of the brand-new format 'Bayer Sports Family' duel was shown on the Bayer 04 YouTube channel for the start of the play-offs in basketball. This includes Werkself skipper Lukas Hradecky in a free shot challenge at the Ostermann Arena against the 7-foot-tall centre Dennis Heinzmann of the Bayer Giants. To make it fairer, Hradecky was able to choose one of three handicaps for the basketball player. Which it was and who sank the most shots can be seen HERE.
Adli and Hradecky are not the only Bayer 04 players to be guests at TSB Bayer 04 Leverkusen this year. The Bayer 04 Women’s team were recently at the Ostermann Arena to provide support for the Werkself handball side. And Bayer 04 have also enjoyed the support of Bayer athletes this season. The whole of the Bayer Giants team and the pole vaulter Torben Blech who commentated on the game against Hertha Berlin (2-1) for Bayer 04 on Instagram and Snapchat.
All this plus further information, fixture announcements, entertainment formats from the big Leverkusen sports family will be available in future on all digital channels under #BayerSportsFamily. Have a look!
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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