
Numerous friends, acquaintances and contemporaries from national and international football came together on Thursday to bid farewell to legendary coach Christoph Daum. In addition to Rolfes that included the DFB president Bernd Neuendorf, DFB sporting director Rudi Völler, the long-serving Leverkusen managing director Reiner Calmund, Alexander Wehrle (VfB Stuttgart chairman of the board), Werner Wolf (FC Köln president), Michael Meier (former managing director at FC Köln and sporting director at Bayer 04), Pierre Littbarski (1990 World Cup winner), Cem Özdemir (German Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture), Ali Koç (Fenerbahce president) and Kaan Şakul (Besiktas general secretary).







There was brilliant sunshine over the stadium punctually for the start of the event at 15.30 CEST. A large canvas in the centre circle depicting Daum lay next to flags of his former clubs Bayer 04, FC Köln and VfB Stuttgart. Many of Daum's contemporaries gave emotional eulogies, DFB president Neuendorf spoke of "one of the most colourful and exciting characters in German football.".
Music was provided by, amongst others, the Höhner, who sang their famous song ‘Gute Fründe’ in German and Turkish, and the Turkish Chamber Orchestra and Choir.

The Werkself need a win in their penultimate match of the season at RB Leipzig on Monday evening (18:00 CEST) to keep their hopes of third place alive until the final day. After Eintracht Frankfurt lost on Saturday, Roberto Pätzold's side can close the gap on their rivals to two points and leave it all to play for next Sunday.
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Werkself TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04's 1-3 loss at VfB Stuttgart on Matchday 33 of the 2025/26 Bundesliga season...
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Down to fifth from fourth place despite taking an early lead: in the head-to-head for a Champions League spot, Bayer 04 were 1-0 up at VfB Stuttgart with just a minute played thanks to an Aleix Garcia strike, but ultimately lost 3-1 (2-1) to the more determined hosts. It meant the Swabians leapfrogged the Werkself in the Bundesliga table on the penultimate matchday.
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Today sees Bayer 04 go head-to-head with their next direct rivals in the race for Champions League qualification (kick-off 15:30 CEST). Opponents Stuttgart are currently fifth in the table, level on points with the Werkself but one place below them due to a three-goal inferior goal difference. The Black and Reds' record at Bad Cannstatt tells a clearer story: they've not lost at VfB for over 16 years. One important factor in securing what would be three crucial points away from home is Leverkusen's strength on the counter-attack. Whilst Stuttgart are also extremely dangerous going forward, they will be without their captain. Today’s matchday news.
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