The Bayer 04 first team squad headed south on Sunday afternoon after an intensive and long week of training. The team under head coach Hannes Wolf play twelfth in the table TSG Hoffenheim on Monday night, 12 April at the end of matchday 28.
This will be the first game involving Werkself with referee Dr. Matthias Jöllenbeck (kick-off: 20.30 CEST) in charge of proceedings. For the 34-year-old doctor from Müllheim near Freiburg, #TSGB04 will be his fifth Bundesliga game as the match referee. In his previous matches in the top-flight, Dr. Jöllenbeck has shown nine yellow cards and awarded three penalties. As yet, he has not sent anybody off.
The referee has the honour of ending the final Monday match in the Bundesliga after the 90 minutes at the PreZero Arena. The kick-off time, unpopular with fans, will be scrapped for next season.
There have been occasional Bundesliga matches on a Monday night over the past four years. The kick-off time was initially introduced to help teams playing in the Europa League on Thursdays. In future there will be a new kick-off time of 19.30 on Sundays.
Tonight's historic meeting will again be covered by the lads from Werks11 Radio: Cedric Pick and Niko Hartmann will start broadcasting at 20.00 CEST to get fans in the mood for the clash with TSG. The match will also be broadcast live by the streaming service DAZN.
The German Football Association (DFB) has confirmed the schedule for matchday 20 in the FLYERALARM Women's Bundesliga: The Werkself Women entertain bottom club SV Meppen at the Kurtekotten Performance Centre on Sunday, 9 May with the kick-off at 14.00 CEST.
Bayer 04 will broadcast the game live on the club’s YouTube channel.
Remaining fixtures for the Bayer 04 Women:
Matchday 17: Sunday, 18 April, 14.00 CEST: SV Werder Bremen v Bayer 04
Matchday 18: Friday, 23 April, 19.15 CEST: Bayer 04 v SGS Essen
Matchday 20: Sunday, 9 May, 14.00 CEST: Bayer 04 v SV Meppen
Matchday 21: 23 May*: Bayer 04 v FC Bayern Munich
Matchday 22: 6 May*: SC Sand v Bayer 04
*timings to be confirmed.
Matchday 19 was brought forward due to an adjustment to the fixture list at the start of February.
A double friendly against Eintracht Frankfurt: Last weekend, the two oldest Bayer 04 youth teams played the Eagles. While the U17s drew 0-0 at Kurtekotten, the U19s under head coach Sven Hübscher won 4-2 in Frankfurt. The 2-0 lead at half-time came with goals from Yannick Schlößer and Samed Onur, both of whom regularly train with the senior squad. Michel Eickschläger netted a brace after the break to make it 3-1 and then 4-1.
The seasons for the youth teams were suspended in October last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Benjamin Henrichs started at Kurtekotten at the age of seven. The full-back then progressed through the youth ranks. In 2015/16, he succeeded in stepping up to the first team and, after his first season in the top-flight, Henrichs was awarded the gold U19 Fritz Walter medal. Benjamin went on to play for Germany during his time at Bayer 04 (five appearances).
Henrichs made a total of 62 Bundesliga appearances for Bayer 04 before joining AS Monaco in 2018. The current employers of former Leverkusen player Kevin Volland loaned Henrichs out of the start of the season to RB Leipzig. After making his 15th appearance last weekend, he has now been signed on a four-year deal by RB.
He was only at Bayer 04 Leverkusen for two years but was involved in one of the most important triumphs in the history of the Black and Reds: Willi Korth was part of the Bundesliga promotion team of 1979. Signed from Schwarz-Weiß Essen the season before, the defender made seven appearances in the promotion year. Korth celebrates his 66th birthday today (Monday) – and Bayer 04 wish him many happy returns.
After their first win on matchday 6 in the UCL league phase, Olympiacos are still in with a good chance of reaching the play-offs in the UEFA Champions League. The 2024 UEFA Conference League winners will be looking to go one better in their home match against Bayer 04 this Tuesday, 20 January (kick-off: 21:00 CET), but their stop scorer is unavailable. The lowdown on our next opponents.
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Panagiotis, known as Panos, Retsos wore the Bayer 04 jersey for three years. Including his loan spells, he was under contract with the Werkself for a total of four and a half years. "It's a very special club for me," said the 27-year-old, who returned to his boyhood club Olympiacos in 2022, in an interview with bayer04.de. The former Leverkusen man is now captain and a first choice for the Werkself's next opponents in the UEFA Champions League. Ahead of the clash on Tuesday night, 20 January (kick-off: 21:00 CET), Retsos talks about his fond memories of his time in Leverkusen and the imminent reunion with some of his former team-mates. He also talks about who brought him to Leverkusen and why he likes getting older.
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Four Bayer 04 players are in action at the 35th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations being played in Morocco from 21 December to 18 January 2026: Eliesse Ben Seghir for the hosts, Edmond Tapsoba with Burkina Faso, Ibrahim Maza for Algeria and Christian Kofane with Cameroon. Updates on the AFCON matches involving Werkself players...
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen will have to manage without goalkeeper Mark Flekken and forward Nathan Tella for the time being.
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After a week in the Algarve, the Bayer 04 Women returned home on Saturday afternoon. The Werkself had six training sessions, two friendlies and a lot of time together as a team. Roberto Pätzold's team will be back in action in the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga next Friday for the start of matchday 15.
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