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.
After back-to-back away defeats, Bayer 04 Women now face their penultimate home fixture of 2026 as they welcome Hamburg to the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion on Saturday (14:00 CET) seeking three important points in the Google Pixel Bundesliga.
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Several Werkself players are set to represent their national teams during the final international break of 2026. Here’s an overview of who has been called up and what matches they will face in November. This article will be updated regularly.
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After three consecutive wins in the Europa League, the Werkself suffered their first European defeat of the season against Marseille. In a first half with few chances, the Black and Reds gradually gained more and more control of the game, but were unable to convert that advantage into goals. Miguel Gutiérrez came closest to putting Leverkusen ahead with a shot that hit the crossbar. In the second half, the French side produced clinical finishing, with Amine Gouiri scoring from a counter-attack to make it 1-0 (77’). Right up to the final whistle, the Werkself threw everything forward in search of an equaliser, but were unable to find a way back into the game.
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Bayer 04 are riding a wave of success on the European stage: After three wins from their first three games and as the only team yet to concede a goal, the Werkself sit second in the table in the group stage of the UEFA Europa League. With another three points in their first-ever competitive match against Olympique Marseille on Thursday night, 5 November (kick-off: 21:00 CET), Bayer 04 could leap to the top of the table. Meanwhile, the French side are riding the wave of a winning streak in Ligue 1, but are yet to pick up any points in the Europa League. For one Werkself player, Thursday night will mark a reunion with his former team-mates. Today’s matchday news.
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The Bundesliga has finalised the fixtures for matchdays 12 to 18 of the 2026/27 season. Here is an overview of the dates.
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