The German Football Association (DFB) have appointed Dr Felix Brych as the referee for the game against VfL Wolfsburg. The 47-year-old has previously been in charge of 42 games involving the Werkself with the Black and Reds picking up 24 wins, five draws and 13 defeats. Against today's opponents from Lower Saxony, the Werkself have never lost when Brych has been in charge. Today's assistant referees are Mark Borsch and Stefan Lupp with Tobias Stieler in action as the VAR official. Have a good game.
The Werkself have lost the last four Bundesliga home games against VfL Wolfsburg and that has only happened to the Leverkusen team once before against Bayern Munich from 2005 to 2008 (also four games). It is currently the longest run of away wins for the team from Lower Saxony and is only surpassed by five Bundesliga away wins in succession against Freiburg from 2013 to 2018.
Results have tended to favour the away team whenever the Werkself play Wolfsburg: None of the last twelve Bundesliga fixtures between VfL Wolfsburg and the Black and Reds have ended in a home win. It is the third time in the history of Germany's top flight that a fixture has not produced a home win in 12 or more meetings. Previously there was a run of 19 games between FC Köln and VfB Stuttgart between 2001 and 2016 and, before that, 13 games between 1860 Munich and Stuttgart from 1994 to 2000.
Wolves head coach Niko Kovac has not tasted much success in Leverkusen: As a coach in German football, the 51-year-old has lost all of his four away games at Bayer 04. Overall, he has been on the losing side against the Werkself in five out seven meetings (plus two wins). Kovac has not lost more often against any other team (also five defeats against Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund).
Like many teams in the current Bundesliga campaign, the Wolves had a mixed start to the current season: The team under head coach Niko Kovac were seventeenth in the table with five points after seven games but three Bundesliga matches without defeat in succession (one win, two draws) took the Wolves up to thirteenth on ten points and that's the position they are in at the moment. Progress in the second round of the DFB Cup (a 2-1 win away to Eintracht Braunschweig) makes it four competitive matches in succession where the Wolves have been unbeaten. The Wolves have not only recently picked up important points but also shown enormous desire in battling to achieve them: The Kovac team twice went behind in the last match against Borussia Mönchengladbach but nearly won the game in the end.
The team from Lower Saxony appears to have recovered from the poor start to the season and this afternoon they meet the Werkself who have the same aim with the match kicking off at 15.30 CEST. More on the performers, personnel and problems for the Wolves plus a prediction for the clash can be found in our lowdown on the next opponents.
Anyone wanting to read the key information ahead of the match between the Alonso team and the Kovac side can take a look at the new Werkself LIVE. The matchday flyer, that provides the important facts and stats on the clash with the club from the home of Volkswagen in compact form, is available at the BayArena. Alternatively there is a free online version HERE.
As ever, anybody unable to make the game against Wolfsburg, can follow the action on Werkself Radio. The audio broadcast starts 30 minutes before kick-off with Cedric Pick and Niko Hartmann providing the commentary. In addition, the latest state of play can be found via live text updates to ensure you do not miss anything in the match against the team from Lower Saxony. Both Werkself Radio and the live text updates can be found at bayer04.de as well as on the Bayer 04 app.
There are further problems with travelling to and from the game on public transport due to the suspension of the S-Bahn service in and around Leverkusen-Mitte station. Further up-to-date information can be found on the websites of the Deutsche Bahn and wupsi.
The Bayer 04 women’s team secured a win in the friendly during the international break. Without a total of eight international players, coach Roberto Pätzold’s team defeated Bundesliga 2 side Borussia Mönchengladbach 3–1 at the Kurtekotten Training Centre, thanks to goals from Lobke Loonen (1’, penalty), Caroline Kehrer (41') and Valentina Mädl (66').
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Bayer 04 will have to manage without striker Christian Kofane in the coming weeks. The 20-year-old sustained a muscle injury to his left thigh on international duty with the Cameroon national team during the recent international break. This will prevent him from playing in the upcoming Werkself matches.
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FSV Mainz 05 went into the international break on the back of an away win at Borussia Mönchengladbach. Currently sixth in the table, the Rheinhessen side – who have been impressive on the road – now aim to continue their good start to the Bundesliga campaign at home when they face the Werkself on Saturday, 10 October (kick-off: 15:30 CEST). In terms of squad selection, Urs Fischer once again has more options at his disposal. Up front, the Mainz coach is likely to continue relying on what is currently the league’s most successful strike partnership. The lowdown on our next opponents.
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Exciting experiences and exclusive insights into the Werkself and the BayArena awaited the young footballers from the BA04 Football Academy Guangzhou in China during their visit to the Rhineland this week. As well as taking part in a joint training session with the Bayer 04 Football Academy, the youngsters marvelled at the Bundesliga club’s stadium during a guided tour. The highlight of the visit was a private press conference with former Bayer 04 striker Stefan Kießling, during which he shared tips from his own career with the young players. On Saturday afternoon, 10 October, the group will round off their visit by supporting the Werkself in the away match in Mainz.
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Fans ask, Carolin Simon answers: As part of Bayer 04’s second Ask Me Anything (AMA) session on Reddit, the Leverkusen captain took questions from the community. The full-back, who returned to the club this summer after ten years away, set aside an hour and a half for the Q&A session with fans, offering a very personal insight into, amongst other things, her daily life as a footballer and her role as captain, as well as her passion for Pokémon.
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