Nowotny moved to Leverkusen from Karlsruher SC in 1996. The former libero made 295 appearances in all competitions in his 10 years at Bayer 04. In 1997, he made his debut in the UEFA Champions League and in the German national team, with whom he later finished third at the home World Cup in 2006. With Nowotny as captain, the Werkself were Bundesliga runners-up four times and also reached the final of both the DFB Cup and Champions League in 2002.
Nowotny left Leverkusen in 2006 and now works as assistant coach of the German U15 team. As assistant of the U17s, he and head coach Christian Wück led the German side to glory in the U17 World Cup in Indonesia last month, where they beat France in the final. When time allows, he still plays for the Werkself legends team. Bayer 04 wishes him many happy returns on his 50th birthday!
Werkself TV shows highlights of the 2-0 win at Olympiacos in the first leg of the play-offs of the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 league...
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The Werkself beat Olympiacos 2-0 in the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League play-off first leg to claim a crucial victory in the Greek capital. After a focused first-half display with a number of presentable chances, Patrik Schick crowned a textbook counter to hand the Werkself the lead on the hour (60’). The Czech rounded off his brace when he headed in from a corner just 144 seconds later. Bayer 04 maintained their lead with aplomb to achieve a good position for the return leg in Leverkusen.
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Bayer 04 and Olympiacos had only met twice before the current UEFA Champions campaign. After the encounter on Matchday 7 of this season’s league phase, the Werkself travel to face the Greek side for the second time in just four weeks for the knockout play-off first leg. The Black and Reds were dominant for large spells in mid-January but lost 2-0 after missing a number of presentable chances. The Werkself aim to do better on Wednesday night to “seize the chance for revenge,” as managing director sport Simon Rolfes put it. Here’s all you need to know ahead of the game in our matchday news.
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A bitter end to the fifth showdown of the 2025/26 VBL Club Championship as the #B04eSports team failed to take any points in the three remaining matches of the preliminary online round of the fifth and final showdown, missing out on the offline round. They can no longer take points in the overall table. Bayer 04 slipped out on the top eight, so direct participation in the final event for the German Club Championship is no longer possible, with Bayer 04 having to contest the play-offs.
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