
The BayArena was lit up in purple for several hours on Tuesday night. For the fifth year in succession, Bayer 04 sent out a colourful signal for World Prematurity Day to raise awareness of the subject of premature births and the associated consequences for children and parents. In Germany, around 60,000 children are born premature every year. The Leverkusen Clinic, with an association with Bayer 04 for many years, is considered to be one of the most experienced maternity clinics in the region with 1,600 births per year. Over 80 premature babies weighing less than 1,500 grammes – including 40 premature babies weighing less than a thousand grammes – were cared for at the Leverkusen Clinic last year. Due to the especially high quality of care, even the smallest premature babies with a birth weight of 500 grammes or less survive. "Strong start for little heroes" is this year's motto for the worldwide information campaign that saw the involvement of the team from the mother and child centre at the Leverkusen Clinic, which is supported by Bayer 04.





Rudi Völler will be the guest on the Sky 90 TV programme on Sunday 22 November. In his weekly talk show, Patrick Wasserzier discusses the Bundesliga matchday for 90 minutes – the Werkself game away to Arminia Bielefeld will also be a topic for discussion. It starts at 11.30 CET – live and available for free on Sky Sport News HD as well as on a live stream at skysport.de.
The last international break of this year is slowly but surely drawing to a close. Only two Werkself players are in action with their national teams on Wednesday night: In the Nations League, Julian Baumgartlinger is set to play for Austria against Norway. Due to suspension, Aleksandar Dragovic left the Austria team at the weekend and is now training with the Werkself again after a negative coronavirus test on Tuesday. Keeper Lukas Hradecky with Finland is in Wales also in the Nations League. Both matches kick-off at 20.45 CET and are live on DAZN. Lucas Alario has already been able to set off on his return journey. Argentina beat Peru 2-0 overnight in a World Cup qualifier but our number 13 did not play.
Autumn is time for pumpkins, thought Alexander Wagner, head chef with the Werkself, and he has prepared a tasty pasta dish with pumpkin sauce together with the Bayer 04 health partner, BERGISCHE KRANKENKASSE. A genuine athletes dish as Wagner revealed as when he's cooking for the Peter Bosz team, he particularly pays attention to sufficient carbohydrates, proteins, fats and vitamins. In this video he shows the preparation step-by-step and the recipe is available to print in the comments section.
Black and Red congratulations on your 59th birthday, Alois Reinhardt. Never to be forgotten is his winning goal in the semi-final first leg of the 1988 UEFA Cup tie against Werder Bremen that also secured a place in the final after a goalless second leg. Reinhardt played for Bayer 04 from 1984 to 1991 and he also played for Germany while he was under the Bayer Cross.

Werkself-TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04 Women's 0-1 loss at Bayern Munich in the round of 16 of the women's DFB-Pokal 2026/27
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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 working 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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Having previously recorded six consecutive home wins across all competitions, Bayer 04 suffered their first home defeat of 2026/27 as they went down 4-2 to VfB Stuttgart in the Bundesliga on Matchday 8. The visitors capitalised on their first two chances to score, with Ermedin Demirovic and Jamie Leweling finding the net in the first half. Although Patrik Schick got a goal back in the first half, Bilal El Khannouss and Demirovic again added further goals for Stuttgart. Bayer 04 didn’t give up, but Ibrahim Maza’s goal proved little more than a consolation.
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Fans at the BayArena got to enjoy a spectacle on Wednesday as the Werkself came from behind to beat Nürnberg 5-2 in the DFB Pokal. Now with the sixth home game of the season, can Bayer 04 maintain their perfect record in Leverkusen as VfB Stuttgart come to town in the Bundesliga on Saturday (15:30 CET)? The visitors have had issues domestically this term, sitting in 15th place, although they have had much better results in the UEFA Champions League. Here’s all you need to know ahead of the Matchday 8 encounter…
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The Bayern Munich women’s football team are unbeaten in all domestic competitions in the last 62 matches. On Sunday (15:00 CET), the Bayer 04 women’s team will make their next attempt to end the holders unbeaten run in the DFB Pokal Round of 16 tie. For coach Roberto Pätzold, there are a number of factors that give the Werkself cause for optimism despite the high-calibre opposition.
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