A look at the stats from a Black and Red perspective is encouraging: The Werkself have beaten Eintracht Frankfurt eight times in succession across all competitions – the longest run of home wins against a current Bundesliga club. The two teams are not giving anything away in this Bundesliga campaign. Eintracht are just ahead of the Werkself in sixth place with 41 points and Bayer 04 are seventh waiting to pounce with one point less.
The Werkself will go above Eintracht with a home win. The team under head coach Xabi Alonso would move up to sixth place with a seventh win on the bounce – Bayer 04 have not been that high up the table so far this season.
After a run of seven games without a win, Eintracht Frankfurt won again on Tuesday in the 2-0 victory in the DFB Cup quarter-final against Union Berlin. The team from Hessen produced a very convincing performance for much of the game. "We played brilliantly in the first half and the lads produced a great display overall," said head coach Oliver Glasner. Further information on Eintracht's squad, performers and problems is available in our lowdown on the next opponents.
Bayer 04 requests everybody to arrive at the BayArena in good time to allow fans to get to their seats in time for kick-off and to avoid long queues at the turnstiles.
Anyone wanting to read key facts about the match against Eintracht Frankfurt before the game should take a look at the new Werkself LIVE. The matchday magazine is available at the BayArena and the digital version is also available free of charge online. HERE is the e-paper.
The German Football Association (DFB) has appointed Robert Hartmann as the match referee foot today's game. The 43-year-old match official has previously been in charge of 17 games involving the Werkself. His assistant referees are Christian Leicher and Dr. Arne Aarnink with Günter Perl in action as the VAR official.
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.
Werkself player Karim Bellarabi today celebrates his 33rd birthday – many happy returns. Bellarabi joined Bayer 04 in the summer of 2011 and he played his first game for the Black and Reds in the derby against FC Köln on 17 September that year. Since then the Berlin-born forward, now the longest-serving Werkself player, has made 213 Bundesliga appearances for Bayer 04. The winger has scored 34 goals and provided 48 assists in those matches.
With 22 days to go until the start of the Bundesliga campaign, the Bayer 04 Women’s team have gained a fresh boost of confidence. In a friendly against Belgian top-flight side KRC Genk on Saturday afternoon, coach Roberto Pätzold’s team secured a 1–0 win. Lobke Loonen (20’) scored the winner for the Black and Reds at the Kurtekotten training centre.
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A successful fourth preseason friendly ahead of the start of the training camp: The Werkself secured a 3-0 victory over Rot-Weiss Essen at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium. The goals in what was a commanding and dominant performance by Leverkusen from the outset were scored by Ibrahim Maza (8'), Patrik Schick from the penalty spot (23’) and, in the second half, Montrell Culbreath with a header (79’). The team set off for their training camp in Blankenhain in the Weimarer Land region after the game.
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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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You have voted – your ‘Team of the Quarter-Century’ has been decided! This historic selection, covering the period from 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2024, features honorary captains, Bundesliga champions, double winners and Champions League finalists. Edmond Tapsoba is the only player from the current Bayer 04 squad to make it into the starting XI, while his team-mate Patrik Schick is on the bench. Simon Rolfes, the current managing director sport, is also in the lie-up. A truly special team that brings together a quarter of a century of Bayer 04 history – and has left a decisive mark on the club.
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Following Patrik Schick, Mark Flekken, Ibrahim Maza and Kerim Alajbegovic earlier this week, the next World Cup participant is back on the training ground in Leverkusen: On Thursday 30 July, Malik Tillman rejoined the squad, completing his first training session under head coach Carles Martínez.
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