The German Football Association (DFB) has appointed Tobias Stieler as the referee for the match against FC Bayern. The 41-year-old match official has previously been in charge of 22 games involving the Werkself with the fixtures resulting in 17 wins, three draws and two defeats for Bayer 04. His assistants tonight are Christian Gittelmann and Eduard Beitinger running the line and Timo Gerach is the VAR referee. Have a good game!
The last three Bundesliga away games at FC Bayern have brought the Werkself four points (one win, one draw, one defeat) – as many as in the previous 15 away games in Munich. Of all the teams currently in Germany’s top flight, only Borussia Mönchengladbach have also picked up four points in their last three away games in Munich and no team has clocked up more.
The Seoane team need to be fully focused in defence: The record champions remain the yardstick for judging attacking prowess in the Bundesliga with 19 goals scored, 161 efforts on goal, 28 clear-cut goalscoring opportunities, seven shots against the woodwork and ten different goalscorers. In addition: FC Bayern have scored in all of their last 32 Bundesliga home games against Bayer 04 - the last time they failed to score was in a 1-0 defeat in October 1989. The only longer run of goals at home in their Bundesliga history is against Hamburg SV (39 games since 1979).
Like several of the supposed top teams in the Bundesliga, FC Bayern are not living up to expectations at the moment. The side from Munich did make an impressive start to the season as usual with an opening 6-1 demolition of Eintracht Frankfurt followed by an emphatic 7-0 victory over VfL Bochum on matchday three. FCB secured a convincing 2-0 win against VfL Wolfsburg on matchday two. However, they have not won since and Bayern are displaying an unfamiliar weakness: The team under head coach Julian Nagelsmann go into the clash with the Seoane team on the back of a negative run of three draws in succession followed by a 1-0 away defeat at FC Augsburg.
The imperative target for the Munich side is securing the next win but the Werkself are also looking to finally get back to winning ways. So, in spite of the meagre number of points and unsatisfactory situation in the table for both teams, an intense encounter under floodlights is on the cards tonight. All the other key information on our opponents from the capital of Bavaria can be found in our lowdown on our next opponents.
Today’s game against FC Bayern will be covered by Werkself Radio as usual. The audio broadcast starts 30 minutes before kick-off with the usual commentator team of Cedric Pick and Niko Hartmann reporting live from the Allianz Arena. You can also keep up-to-date with the latest situation in the match against the record champions via the live text update service. Both Werkself Radio and the text updates can be found at bayer04.de and on the Bayer 04 app.
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 personalised 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…
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To all Bayer 04 fans: The Fanwelt will be closed all day next Monday 30 June. This is due to preparations for the change of kit supplier from Castore to New Balance on Tuesday 1 July.
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The Norway U23 international Julie Jorde has completed the move from Bayer 04 Leverkusen to Brøndby IF. The twelve-time champions of Denmark have signed the midfielder on permanent terms after her loan move from the Bundesliga to Denmark in the winter.
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It is almost two years since Bayer 04 new signing Abdoulaye Faye first stepped foot into the BayArena as a player for the Swedish club BK Häcken in the opening match in the 2023/24 Europa League campaign. A day before his nineteenth birthday, the central defender did not play in the 4-0 win for the Werkself but it was "an incredible night" for him on 21 September 2023 as he explained in his first interview on bayer04.de. "I watched the players and saw the fans. I liked it." It was also the first European night early on in his career. He only joined the then champions of Sweden in the cold north of Europe from his home in Senegal a few weeks before that special moment. Bayer04.de profiles our new defender.
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Welcome, Abdoulaye Faye. The 20-year-old Senegalese central defender joins Leverkusen from top-flight Swedish club BK Häcken. In his first interview he talks about his move to Bayer 04 and his targets with the Werkself.
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