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.
Attacking midfielder Paulina Bartz is leaving Bayer 04 Leverkusen for good on a permanent move to Hamburger SV in the Google Pixel Women’s Bundesliga. The 21-year-old, who was on loan to the newly promoted side in the winter, originally had a contract to 2027.
Show more
The Bayer 04 Football School opened in 2007 – now this successful programme is getting a new name and a new logo: with immediate effect, the Bayer 04 Football School powered by BarmeniaGothaer is becoming the Bayer 04 Football Academy powered by BarmeniaGothaer.
Show more
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 as he worked 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…
Show more
The sustainable use of the BayArena seats removed as part of the current stadium upgrade has taken on a new dimension: Following on from numerous Bayer 04 fans receiving their ‘Undefeated Champions seats’ and various clubs and community organisations from Leverkusen and the wider region having collected the dismantled seats, Blau-Gelbe Kreuz e.V. also made their way to the BayArena recently. The German-Ukrainian aid organisation took away around 2,100 seats; in Ukraine, these will be used to upgrade the sports infrastructure of two clubs.
Show more
