Due to the coronavirus pandemic, unfortunately there will be no season launch at the BayArena this year. But Bayer 04 have thought up something special for the supporters: On Saturday, 12 September, there will be the digital kick-off for the 2020/21 season. From 15.30 CET, the club will broadcast live on bayer04.de and YouTube – 24 hours before the first match of the season for the Werkself.
In addition to a number of guests, supporters can look forward to entertaining interviews, interesting photos and a prize competition. Who's going to take part? – We will let you know via our club channels over the course of the week.
One day after the kick-off, the Werkself entertain Eintracht Norderstedt at the BayArena. The team from the Hanseatic city won the Hamburg State Cup at the end of August and now meet the Black and Reds in the first round of the DFB Cup on Sunday, 13 September (kick-off: 15.30 CET). Eintracht lost 3-1 to Weiche Flensburg in their opening league fixture at the weekend: There will be more information on the North Regional League side on bayer04.de over the course of the week.
From the first team to the youth teams: In the penultimate friendly ahead of the start of the U19 Bundesliga West season, the most senior Bayer 04 youth side demonstrated their resilience. The Black and Reds entertained the Eintracht Frankfurt U19s at Kurtekotten. The visitors took the lead on 56 minutes but Leverkusen substitute Okan Keskin, with an assist from Luca Wesemann, levelled the scores at 1-1 (89') late on. There is another friendly against Wolfsburg on Saturday, 12 September (kick-off: 14.00 CET). The league kicks off the following week with the Borussia Mönchengladbach U19s visiting the Ulrich Haberland Stadium.
The Leverkusen U17s are also in the final stages of their pre-season. They also played Eintracht Frankfurt in Dillenburg. That match ended in a 4-3 defeat but the coaching duo of Jan Hoepner and Thomas Zdebel were satisfied after the final whistle. After another friendly at Hannover 96, the Bayer 04 U17 team start the new Bundesliga season with an away fixture at Fortuna Köln on 19 September.
A DFB Cup winner is 55! Andreas Thom celebrates his birthday today (7 September). The former player joined Bayer 04 from FC Berlin (now BFC Dynamo) in 1990 and he went on to make an impressive 161 appearances for the Werkself in the Bundesliga up to 1995, scoring 36 goals and providing 41 assists along the way. His biggest success: the DFB Cup win with Bayer 04 in 1993.
And Markus Münch, at Leverkusen from 1994 to 1996, also celebrates his birthday at the start of the week. Markus is 48. The U21 international made 57 top-flight appearances for the Werkself – more than he did for FC Bayern (49), Mönchengladbach (45) and FC Köln (13). Münch’s goal in the ‘relegation final' in May 1996 remains legendary: The defender levelled the scores at 1-1 on 82 minutes in the game against FC Kaiserslautern to secure first division status for the Black and Reds.
Bayer 04 wish the duo: Many happy returns!
Today's news in brief unfortunately ends with a bereavement: Peter Rübenach played for Leverkusen from 1967 to 1969 and he won the Oberliga with the Werkself in 1968. The former Leverkusen player passed away at the end of August at the age of 72. Former Werkself teammates attended his funeral. We send our condolences to his family and friends.
Plenty going on both on and off the pitch: The Bayer 04 fan support team has organised a number of highlights for fans visiting the Werkself 2026/27 summer training camp in Blankenhain, in the Weimarer Land region. Registration for the events is now open. All the details at a glance.
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The Bayer 04 Leverkusen Women’s team and s2-Software are continuing their long-term partnership: The Werkself and the provider of pre-owned Microsoft licences have extended their contract by two years to 2028. This means s2-Software will remain the Bayer 04 sleeve sponsor for all matches in the Google Pixel Women’s Bundesliga.
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BIOGENA is the new performance partner for the Bayer 04 Leverkusen Women’s team. Under a partnership initially set to run for three years, the club and the leading Austrian micronutrient company are pooling their expertise in the areas of health, fitness and top-level performance.
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100 children from the Bayer 04 Football Academy had the chance to gain exclusive insights: As part of the summer camp, the young footballers headed inside the BayArena at midday on Tuesday, 21 July, where they were due to meet Werkself keepers Janis Blaswich and Simeon Rapsch in the press conference room. The two players took plenty of time to answer every question from the inquisitive audience – whether it was about their own careers or their first impressions of the new head coach. Finally, there was even time left to sign autographs for the young fans.
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Following the cancellation of Bayer 04’s scheduled friendly against Carl Zeiss Jena on 1 August, the Werkself have now found a new opponent for the same day and will host Rot-Weiss Essen of the 3. Liga at the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion. Kick-off is at 11:00 CEST and tickets are available now.
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