The best defence of this calendar year play host to the second best: Union Berlin have only conceded 11 goals in 2023 and the Werkself just 15.
This clash brings together Jeremie Frimpong and Union’s Sheraldo Becker, the two players who have made the most sprints in the league this season. For the Leverkusen player it is 950 and the Irons striker has made 922.
2,500 Leverkusen fans are expected to make their way to the capital to support the Werkself in the game against the Irons at the An der Alten Försterei Stadium. Over the course of the 2022/23 season, Bayer 04 have been able to count on the backing of an average of 2,000 fans at their away games. The club is grateful for this fantastic support.
The German Football Association (DFB) has appointed Marco Fritz as the referee for the game at the An der Alten Försterei Stadium. The 45-year-old has been in charge of 21 games involving the Werkself to date (11 wins, three draws, seven defeats). His assistants today are Dominik Schaal and Marcel Pelgrim with Marcus Schmidt in action as the VAR official.
Last weekend, Union Berlin secured a deserved 1-0 win at Borussia Mönchengladbach and thereby extended their lead over fifth place to four points. The Irons are third in the table on 55 points. That is just two points less than the previous best return for the club in the Bundesliga from last season. They are on course to qualify for the Champions League for the first time in their history. You can find out more about the personnel, performers and problems for the Irons in our lowdown on the next opponents.
As usual, Werkself Radio is available for anybody unable to be at today's game. The audio broadcast begins 30 minutes before kick-off with commentary provided by Cedric Pick und Niko Hartmann. In addition, the live text update service will keep you up-to-date to ensure you don't miss any of the key match action. Both Werkself Radio and the live text updates can be found at bayer04.de and on the Bayer 04 app – tune in.
In the previous game against RB Leipzig in December last year, the Werkself turned came from behind to win 3-1 and further improved Leverkusen's already strong record against the Red Bulls. Montrell Culbreath stood out with his first goal on his debut for the Black and Reds. While the 18-year-old would certainly like to score a second goal against Leipzig on Saturday night, the attack-minded visitors come to the BayArena in confident mood after five Bundesliga victories in a row. The Nordkurve12 supporters group knows the Werkself will therefore once again be reliant on the vociferous support of the fans, and has once again called for the ‘Finally Red’ campaign in the run-in. Today’s matchday news.
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Video games manufacturer Electronic Arts (EA), together with the German Football League (DFL), announced the top male and female selections for the 2025/26 Bundesliga season this week. Bayer 04 striker Vanessa Fudalla is in the starting eleven of the women's "Team of the Season". Alejandro Grimaldo and Aleix Garcia have been selected as bench players in the men's team.
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This special event showed once again how strong Bayer 04 are as a team: As part of ‘BarmeniaGothaer gives joy’, the Werkself players Edmond Tapsoba, Ibrahim Maza and Christian Kofane supported the sale of individually designed T-shirts for a good cause at the Fanwelt on Thursday. Several hundred fans came to take part in the charity campaign. Leverkusen's main sponsor BarmeniaGothaer donated the proceeds to the Fondation Edmond Tapsoba, which helps people in Tapsoba's home country of Burkina Faso in their challenging everyday lives.
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With three games to play before the end of the season, the Bayer 04 Women can break one record and equal another at SGS Essen. After three wins on the bounce, coach Roberto Pätzold's team are aiming to maintain the chance of third place in Sunday’s away game (14:00 CEST, Stadion an der Hafenstraße).
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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 personalised 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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