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.
Once again in the last four! Bayer 04 put in a mature and, for long stretches, commanding performance to defeat a courageous FC St. Pauli in the quarter-finals of the 2025/26 DFB Pokal to reach the semi-finals of the competition for the third time in a row. Martin Terrier gave Leverkusen the lead on 32 minutes before Patrik Schick made it 2-0 on 63 minutes. Substitute Jonas Hofmann capped off a strong second half for the Werkself with the third goal in added time.
Show more
The German Football League (DFL) has announced the three candidates for the title of Bundesliga Rookie of the Month for January. That includes Werkself player Jarell Quansah. Fans of Bayer 04 can vote for their favourite on the Bundesliga app from now until Thursday, 5 January (23:59 CET).
Show more
As in the past two years, the Werkself are aiming to come out on top in the DFB Pokal quarter-finals on Tuesday night, 3 February (kick-off: 20:45 CET). With eleven home games in a row without defeat against the Kiezkicker, the Black and Reds go into the floodlit match in confident mood. But the Pokal, as is often said, has its own magic and the team from the Millerntor has much more to offer than the current 17th place in the Bundesliga would suggest. After all, Bayer 04 are one of the big German teams the combative Hamburgers have already made life difficult for this season. The matchday news.
Show more
The Leverkusen eSports team picked up valuable points and made up ground in the overall table with a top four finish in the offline round in Showdown 4 in the VBL Club Championship 2025/26. In the round of 16, Showdown 1 winners Bayer 04 defeated the unbeaten runners-up in the previous round, VfL Bochum, in a thrilling penalty shoot-out. The Landwehr cousins, themselves the current club runners-up, then beat the current club champions and Showdown 3 winners RB Leipzig. It was not until the semi-finals that they lost out to the eventual showdown winners Borussia Mönchengladbach.
Show more
Welcome to Leverkusen, Rafaela Borggräfe. Bayer 04 have signed the goalkeeper on loan from Liverpool until the end of the season. Bayer04.de profiles the 25-year-old.
Show more
