The second ball pulled out in the DFB Cup draw by the former ski jumper Sven Hannawald had two names on it: Bayer 04 Leverkusen and Eintracht Frankfurt. The second round tie was postponed at the request of the Werkself from the end of December to 12 January (kick-off: 20.45 CET) but the opponents in the Round of 16 are now confirmed. The winners of the Bundesliga clash will play Rot-Weiss Essen in the last 32. The league leaders in the Regional League West are the only fourth-tier club left in the competition having beaten Bundesliga newcomers Arminia Bielefeld (1-0) and relegated Fortuna Düsseldorf (3-2).
The Round of 16 ties will be played on 2 and 3 February. The quarter-finals are at the start of March and the semi-finals at the beginning of May. The final at the Olympic Stadium is on 13 May.
The other Round of 16 ties: VfL Wolfsburg v FC Schalke 04, Jahn Regensburg v FC Köln, VfB Stuttgart v Borussia Mönchengladbach, Werder Bremen v Greuther Fürth, RB Leipzig v VfL Bochum, Borussia Dortmund v SC Paderborn, Holstein Kiel/Bayern Munich v Darmstadt 98.
Rudi Völler was a guest on the football talk show Doppelpass on Sport1 on Sunday morning. On the programme, also involving former players Sandro Wagner and Stefan Effenberg, the sporting managing director discussed the start of the new calendar year for the Werkself. The 60-year-old was talking after 2-1 defeat at Eintracht Frankfurt the day before: “We deserved to lose yesterday. We’re starting a new week in training and we’ll be back on it against Bremen on Saturday.”
The two defeats in succession – the first in the current Bundesliga campaign – would not “throw the Werkself off course,” added Völler. “We want to stay at the top. Our primary target is to get back in the Champions League.”
The Doppelpass broadcast with Rudi Völler will soon be available free of charge on sport1.de.
And here is another Black and Red TV tip: Karim Bellarabi was a guest on the Sky broadcast ‘My story – the life of…’. The 25-minute edition with the Leverkusen winger was available free of charge on Sky Sport News HD on Sunday afternoon. The programme will be shown again on Monday night at 22.30 CET and repeated on Monday evening at 19.00 CET. In addition, the Bellarabi programme is now available on sport.sky.de HERE.
Riccardo Basile, the presenter on the Sky programme, goes behind the scenes with professional sports personalities. The personal stories away from the pitch are centre stage.
Bayer 04 can go through to the Round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League for the ninth time tonight, 24 February (kick-off: 21:00 CET) and be in the top 16 clubs in Europe. A good omen: Leverkusen have progressed to the next round after winning the first leg in 20 of their 22 knockout rounds in European competitions to date. For their part, Greek record champions Olympiacos rested several players for last weekend’s league fixture ahead of the play-off second leg at the BayArena and will now do everything in their power to turn the tide with their usual aggressive and high pressing. The discussions on Werkself radio are likely to be just as intense as the battle on the pitch, with commentator Florian Bechholz welcoming honorary captain Stefan Kießling and goalkeeper Mark Flekken. Today’s matchday news.
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With the advantage of the 2-0 first-leg win in the play-offs, the Werkself are looking to book their place in the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League at the sold-out BayArena. Ahead of the home game against Olympiacos on Tuesday, 24 February (kick-off: 21:00 CET), coach Kasper Hjulmand and goalkeeper Janis Blaswich spoke about the position ahead of the match, the visitors' strength at set-pieces and a personnel issue for the home side.
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With a win in the Greek Super League last weekend, Olympiacos achieved success on the pitch ahead of the UEFA Champions League play-off second leg at Bayer 04 on Tuesday, 24 February (kick-off: 21:00 CET). Coach José Luis Mendilibar rested many of his regular starters.
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Werkself-TV shows the highlights of the Bayer 04 women's 0-1 loss against TSG Hoffenheim on the 19th matchday of the Google Pixel Frauen-Bundesliga 2025/26.
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