Fernando Carro as chairman of the board at Bayer 04 Leverkusen and member of the UEFA Club Competitions Committee assesses the decision of the executive committee as follows: "Performances have to be rewarded, increased commercial interest in the modern football business is legitimate. But, at the same time, it is crucially important to protect the roots of the sport and the idea of open competition as we know it. This area of conflicting priorities is very complex due to the different interests in European club football. For me, the agreed reform of the European club competitions from 2024 was and is a viable and sensible compromise.
That is even more so in view of the plan to set up a closed Super League. It is unfortunately solely driven by financial aspirations and also financial need. This would go against the fundamentals of football in many areas. This initiative unfortunately shows a lack of touch by the people involved in relation to the consumers, the fans.
As Bayer 04 Leverkusen, we decisively reject this alternative format and will work together with the German clubs in UEFA and the ECA to do everything we can over the next two years to implement the reform in 2024 in the interests of football.
Particular thanks go to Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund for resisting the temptations of the Super League and thereby clearly committing to the Bundesliga. It would also be desirable for politicians in Germany to clearly speak against the foundation of a closed, pan-European club competition."
The new format of the Champions League sees an increase of the current 32 teams to 36 from 2024. The competition will be carried out in future according to the so-called Swiss model. Every cub plays ten group matches against ten opponents drawn out according to seeding. That will produce an overall table of 36 teams with the top eight clubs going through to the knockout rounds. The teams in positions nine to 24 will be involved in play-offs the knockout rounds.
The Werkself will host VfB Stuttgart at the BayArena on matchday 16 of the 2025/26 Bundesliga season. The game is on Saturday, 10 January, at 18:30 CET. Information on ticket sales.
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The Werkself will host Werder Bremen at the BayArena on matchday 19 of the 2025/26 Bundesliga season. The game is on Saturday, 24 January, at 15:30 CET. Information on ticket sales.
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Bayer 04 were beaten 2-0 away at Augsburg on Matchday 13 in the Bundesliga. The Werkself had the majority of the ball but fell behind early to Dimitrios Giannoulis and then Anton Kade inside the first half an hour. Despite an attempted fightback in the second half and striking the frame of the goal three times, Leverkusen were left empty handed.
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Werkself-TV shows the highlights of the Bayer 04 women's 3-2 win against RB Leipzig on the 12th matchday of the Google Pixel Frauen-Bundesliga 2025/26.
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Bayer 04 Women returned to winning ways with a 3-2 victory over RB Leipzig that took them to fourth place in the Google Pixel Bundesliga, at least overnight. Loreen Bender and Estrella Merino Gonzalez scored in a before Vanessa Fudalla got a third from the penalty spot inside a blistering 17 minutes at the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion. Leipzig got two goals back after the break to make things interesting again, but the Werkself held on to end their three-game losing run and move on to 22 points from 12 games.
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