UEFA have appointed François Letexier as the match referee. The 32-year-old has already been in charge of three fixtures in the Champions League and one in the Europa League this term. The Frenchman has also previously refereed a match involving the Werkself: the 5-1 win away to the top Cypriot club AEK Larnaca in December 2018. Lucas Alario scored twice on the night and Paulinho also found the back of the net. The other two goals were scored by the Bayer 04 home-grown player Dominik Kohr (now at Mainz 05).
Letexier will be assisted at the BayArena by his fellow countrymen Mehdi Rahmouni and Jeremie Pignard. Have a good game.
The Werkself will tonight wear black armbands in honour of the long-standing DFB president Egidius Braun. The Rhinelander passed away on Wednesday night at the age of 97. Braun was president of the German Football Association from 1992 to 2001 and went on to be its honorary president. Rudi Völler, sporting managing director at Bayer 04: "Egidius Braun will never be forgotten as a person and also based on his social affairs commitments. My deep condolences to his family and friends."
The Eintracht Frankfurt team will also remember the long-standing football official at tonight's Round of 16 second leg match against Real Betis with the Eintracht players also wearing black armbands.
Black and Red fans can also catch catch up with important information on the match ahead of kick-off in the Europa League game against Atalanta with the help of Werkself LIVE. The matchday programme can be obtained at the BayArena – alternatively it is available free of charge online. This season's new Bayer 04 programme provides interesting facts and stats on the meeting with the North Italian club. On the back there is a poster of Edmond Tapsoba. HERE is the e-paper.
The North Italian team took up their base in Cologne on Wednesday and this morning players under coach Gian Piero Gasperini used the Sportpark Höhenberg for a warm-up session. The home ground of the third division team SC Viktoria Köln provided the stage for light training and the squad returned to the team hotel at 11.00 CET.
Based on the current coronavirus protection order from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, 22,658 fans may currently attend matches at the BayArena, with no standing permitted. Spectators must wear – including at their own seats – a medical grade face covering. The 2G plus rule also applies. Further information is available in the FAQs on home games.
The Werkself have initiated the most vertical attacks (28) of all teams in the current Europa League campaign and scored the most goals as a result (5) – one of them in the first leg against Atalanta. More of the same please!
Attacking midfielder Paulina Bartz is leaving Bayer 04 Leverkusen for good on a permanent move to Hamburger SV in the Google Pixel Women’s Bundesliga. The 21-year-old, who was on loan to the newly promoted side in the winter, originally had a contract to 2027.
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The Bayer 04 Football School opened in 2007 – now this successful programme is getting a new name and a new logo: with immediate effect, the Bayer 04 Football School powered by BarmeniaGothaer is becoming the Bayer 04 Football Academy powered by BarmeniaGothaer.
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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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The sustainable use of the BayArena seats removed as part of the current stadium upgrade has taken on a new dimension: Following on from numerous Bayer 04 fans receiving their ‘Undefeated Champions seats’ and various clubs and community organisations from Leverkusen and the wider region having collected the dismantled seats, Blau-Gelbe Kreuz e.V. also made their way to the BayArena recently. The German-Ukrainian aid organisation took away around 2,100 seats; in Ukraine, these will be used to upgrade the sports infrastructure of two clubs.
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