The German Football Association (DFB) have appointed Christian Dingert as today's match referee for the game at the MEWA Arena in Mainz. The 42-year-old has been in charge of twelve Werkself games to date resulting in four wins, three draws and five defeats. His assistants are Timo Gerach and Thomas Gorniak and Dr Felix Brych is in the VAR booth. Have a good game.
Bayer 04 have scored in all of the past ten Bundesliga matches against Mainz 05. That is the longest run of goals for the Werkself against an opponent currently in the Bundesliga. The statistics generally favour the team led by head coach Gerardo Seoane: 17 wins, five draws and 11 defeats in 33 meetings. The Werkself also come out top in a comparison of statistics. But that was also the case before the last two home games against Augsburg in Hoffenheim – with both games ending in defeat for Leverkusen.
Continuing with winning ways: In spite of losing key players like former captain Moussa Niakhaté, who has joined Nottingham Forest in the Premier League, and also Jeremiah St. Juste, who has signed for the Lisbon club Sporting CP, Mainz have been able to maintain their impressive performances from last season. FSV have made a respectable start to the season with two wins and one draw in the first three games and they are currently fourth in the table. The team from the Rhineland Palatinate also won their DFB Cup game with ease (3-0 against Erzgebirge Aue). All the key information on today's opponents from Mainz can be found in the lowdown on our next opponents.
You can also follow the Seoane team as usual via Werkself Radio. Anybody unable to support the team from the away stand at the MEWA Arena, can listen to the radio broadcast from half an hour before kick-off. Cedric Pick and Niko Hartmann will again keep you up-to-date on the match against Mainz 05. Match information is also available via live text commentary. Both the radio broadcast and the text updates can be found at bayer04.de as well as on the Bayer 04 app.
Today's Black and Red birthday boy is Helmut Winklhofer who is 61 today. The player born in Lower Bavaria joined Leverkusen from Bayern Munich in 1982 and after three years and 98 Bundesliga appearances he returned to Munich and went on to win the German league title three times in succession and the DFB Cup with the German record champions. Bayer 04 wish Helmut many happy returns.
After six and a half years, Exequiel Palacios is leaving the Bundesliga and moving from Bayer 04 to the Premier League. The Argentine, who as a Werkself player won the World Cup with his national team four years ago and finished as runners-up at this summer’s tournament, will play for newly promoted English side Ipswich Town with immediate effect. The 27-year-old, whose contract in Leverkusen was due to run until 30 June 2030, joined Bayer 04 in January 2020 as a promising young talent. He steadily developed into one of the best defensive midfielders in the German top flight.
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When Exequiel Palacios moved from the Argentinian club River Plate to Bayer Leverkusen on 1 January 2020, the then 21-year-old could not have imagined just how successful the next six and a half years would be for him. Pala, as he is known, had already won the Copa Libertadores – the most prestigious competition in South American club football – with River Plate. But there were still so many more trophies to come.
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To mark Exequiel Palacios’s departure, we’ve put together a compilation of the midfielder’s finest and most important goals from his six-and-a-half years at the club.
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Newly promoted SV 07 Elversberg will begin the 2026/27 season as Bundesliga club number 59. The Saarland club start their first Bundesliga campaign at home to the Werkself on Saturday, 29 August (kick-off 15:30 CEST) at the URSAPHARM Arena on Kaiserlinde, which is currently being rebuilt. For one Leverkusen player in the ‘Elv’ line-up, the clash will be a special reunion. The lowdown on our next opponents.
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Ernest Poku is leaving Bayer 04 Leverkusen to play in the Turkish Süper Lig. The club has loaned the Dutch winger to Beşiktaş for one year. If certain criteria are met, the Istanbul club – who finished fourth in the Turkish top flight last season – will be obliged to make the move permanent.
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