Sven Jablonski has been appointed to oversee this match. The 32-year-old has previously taken charge of 10 games involving Leverkusen, which have produced seven Bayer 04 wins, a draw and two defeats. His assistants are Sascha Thielert and Lasse Koslowski. Daniel Siebert is the VAR.
A total of 871 fans are making the journey from Leverkusen to cheer on the team at the Red Bull Arena in Leipzig.
Leipzig have lost just two of the 12 Bundesliga encounters with the Werkself, scoring in every game. However, Bayer 04 won the last meeting 3-1 in Leipzig last season. But Die Roten Bullen have been very good on their own patch this team, leading the Bundesliga’s home table with 13 points and a +10 goal difference. Marco Rose is the first RB coach to win his first three Bundesliga home games in charge.
However, his fourth game at the helm at the Red Bull Arena is against Leverkusen, against whom the 46-year-old has suffered the most losses (four, same as vs. Leipzig and Bayern) and conceded the most goals (17, same as vs. Bayern) of any team he’s faced in the Bundesliga. His last encounter with the Werkself produced a 5-2 home loss in charge of Borussia Dortmund in February. That’s also the only time one of his teams has conceded five times in a Bundesliga home game.
Our opponents have got back towards their best under Rose, even ending Real Madrid’s 16-game unbeaten run during the week with a 3-2 win in the Champions League. Their domestic form also looks on the up since the Leipzig native took over. They have picked up 11 points in six league games under the 46-year-old. Only Union Berlin and Eintracht Frankfurt (both 12) have earned more points since Matchday 6 than RB. They also boast the division’s best attack in that time (14 goals) after Bayern (15), led by Christopher Nkunku, who leads the division’s pre-matchday scoring chart with eight goals alongside Niclas Füllkrug and Marcus Thuram.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen have appointed Carles Martínez Novell as the new head coach. The 42-year-old Spaniard worked for FC Toulouse in the French Ligue 1 until the end of the season. Martínez finished last term in ninth place with the club from the south of France. He will take over the Werkself on 1 July 2026 and has signed a contract to 30 June 2028. Martínez, whose contract with Toulouse expires at the end of the month, succeeds Kasper Hjulmand at Leverkusen, who is leaving the club after one season.
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Bayer 04 plans for the 2026/27 pre-season continue to take shape. The Werkself will kick off the new season in mid-July with the return to the training ground. The highlight will be the official season opener on 8 August at the BayArena, including a friendly against La Liga club Sevilla. Friendlies in Germany will take the team to neighbouring Monheim, Offenbach and Jena.
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Strengthening the Bayer 04 Leverkusen youth teams: Konstantinos Kotsifakis will join the Werkself from Bundesliga 2 club Hertha Berlin for the 2026/27 season, where he will be a permanent member of the Leverkusen U19 coaching set-up. The German-Greek will also take on an operational role in coaching the Bayer 04 Future Team. The 29-year-old was most recently head coach of the U17s at Hertha Berlin.
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Another award for the Bayer 04 head groundsman and staff: After coming top in the 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2024/25 seasons, the BayArena pitch came second in the Bundesliga Pitch of the Year ranking for the 2025/26 season. VfL Wolfsburg secured the top spot this year, with TSG Hoffenheim in third place.
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Opening opponents, derby weekends, the opponents in the season finale: This information and more will be available to Bayer 04 fans on Thursday, 2 July, when the 2026/27 Bundesliga fixture list is published.
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