On Saturday, 12 September, fans can look forward to a 90-minute live broadcast from 15.30 CET at bayer04.de and on the official Bayer 04 YouTube channel with a programme of black and red entertainment from the Schwadbud – the perfect introduction to the new season.
CEO Fernando Carro, head of the youth section Thomas Eichin, popular figure Ramazan ‘Rambo’ Özcan plus the Bayer 04 women’s team captain Jessica Wich and new signing Kristin Kögel will all be guests in the studio. They will not only field questions from the presenters Mara Mones and Cedric Pick but also show what they can do in an amusing studio challenge.
Viewers can also look forward to seeing new signing Patrik Schick take part in the popular ‘Black or Red’ format, sporting director Simon Rolfes, who will answer penetrating questions from fans, Bayer 04 legend Stefan Kießling in a completely unusual role, the Werkself first team who will send out warm greetings to the fans plus much more.
It is possible to join in the chat on the YouTube channel during the whole broadcast – comments will be worked into the broadcast and questions redirected to the studio guests.
The perfect introduction to the new season ahead of the opening fixture in the DFB Cup against Eintracht Norderstedt on Sunday, 13 September (15.30 CET).
Strengthening the Bayer 04 Leverkusen youth teams: Konstantinos Kotsifakis will join the Werkself from Bundesliga 2 club Hertha Berlin for the 2026/27 season, where he will be a permanent member of the Leverkusen U19 coaching set-up. The German-Greek will also take on an operational role in coaching the Bayer 04 Future Team. The 29-year-old was most recently head coach of the U17s at Hertha Berlin.
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Another award for the Bayer 04 head groundsman and staff: After coming top in the 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2024/25 seasons, the BayArena pitch came second in the Bundesliga Pitch of the Year ranking for the 2025/26 season. VfL Wolfsburg secured the top spot this year, with TSG Hoffenheim in third place.
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Opening opponents, derby weekends, the opponents in the season finale: This information and more will be available to Bayer 04 fans on Thursday, 2 July, when the 2026/27 Bundesliga fixture list is published.
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Rüdiger Vollborn has been at the club for 40 years, he holds the record number of Bundesliga appearances for the club (401) and is the only Bayer 04 player to have won both the UEFA Cup (1988) and the DFB Pokal (1993). And the Berliner stayed with the Werkself after ending his impressive playing career as he worked as a goalkeeping coach for the following nine years. Vollborn now works under the Bayer Cross as a fan liaison officer and club archivist. Since February 2021, the personal Black and Red lexicon takes Werkself fans under the heading of 'Rudi recounts...' on a brief trip through the history of Bayer 04 every month…
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