Edmond Tapsoba’s 22nd birthday moves into the background on this Tuesday with the focus being on the DFB Cup Round of 16 tie against RW Essen. After the job has been done and hopefully the best birthday present has been received – progress to the next round – then the team can raise a glass. Happy Birthday, Edmond!
We also send congratulations to Radoslaw Kaluzny, who played for Leverkusen from 2003 to 2005, and after that he signed for Rot-Weiss Essen, tonight’s opponents for the Werkself. Who will the Polish-born midfielder cross his fingers for on his 47th birthday?
Referee Daniel Schlager (31, banker) from Hügelsheim in Baden-Württemberg is in charge of tonight’s cup tie between the Werkself and Rot-Weiss Essen. Marcel Unger and Robert Wessel are assistant referees, Arne Aarnink is the fourth official. The video referees, who are used from the Round of 16 this year, are Tobias Reichel and Benedikt Kempkes.
Deutsche Telekom AG have extended their pay-TV rights option to the third division and the Women’s Bundesliga for another year to the end of the 2022/23 season. The company secured the rights in 2017 to broadcast third division games and top matches in the FLYERALARM Women’s Bundesliga on MagentaSport. That means selected matches involving the Bayer 04 Women will continue to be shown on the pay-TV channel.
Bayer 04 fans are again spoilt for choice: The club Facebook channel again provides the opportunity to choose the best Black and Red goal of the month – this time for January. Up for the vote are the goal scored by Nadiem Amiri against Eintracht Frankfurt, the goals by Dóra Zeller and Kristin Kögel from the Women’s friendly against Werder Bremen and the unmissable strike from Moussa Diaby against Borussia Dortmund. Here are all four goals to watch again. You can vote in the comments section.
He is the living club legend at Rot-Weiss Essen: Willi ‘Ente’ Lippens played for RWE from 1965 to 1976 and from 1979 to 1981. He made 449 appearances and scored 237 goals for Essen. Of course, he is crossing his fingers for his club in the cup clash. “It’s an away game for Leverkusen,” Lippens said to sid: “I can only advise not to be afraid, press high and put the opposition under pressure. And then we’ll see what happens.”
Barely two weeks since beating St. Pauli in the DFB Pokal quarter-finals, Bayer 04 again welcome the Hamburg club to the BayArena for Matchday 22 in the Bundesliga this Saturday (kick-off: 15:30 CET). The visitors received a welcome confidence boost last weekend with a win over VfB Stuttgart, but the head-to-head record is still very much in Leverkusen’s favour, which Kasper Hjulmand’s team will look to maintain. Here’s all you need to know ahead of the game in our matchday news.
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Werkself-TV shows the highlights of the Bayer 04 women's 2-1 win against FC Köln on the 18th matchday of the Google Pixel Frauen-Bundesliga 2025/26.
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In preparation for the Bundesliga home match against FC St. Pauli on Saturday, 14 February (kick-off: 15:30 CET), the Werkself had a full week of training for the first time since the first match in 2026. At the press conference ahead of the clash against the relegation-threatened Kiezkicker, coach Kasper Hjulmand spoke about the intensive work during the week and the lessons learnt. The Dane also announced the good news that Ibrahim Maza is available again.
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen are strengthening the squad for next season with the addition of Serbia U19 international Aleksa Damjanovic. The 17-year-old centre-forward is set to join the Bundesliga club in the summer from Serbian champions Red Star Belgrade. Damjanovic, who also has Austrian citizenship, has signed a long-term contract.
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