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 will round off their 2026/27 pre-season preparations with a friendly against Premier League side Newcastle United. The match against the side featuring German internationals Malik Thiaw and Nick Woltemade will take place on Saturday 15 August (kick-off: 4 pm German time/3 pm local time) at St James’ Park. Werkself-TV will stream the match live in full and free of charge after logging in from 3.50 pm...
After the 2-1 defeat at Premier League club Nottingham Forest the night before, it was straight back to work for the Werkself at midday on Thursday with an intensive training session in hot temperatures at the hosts' training ground.
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The Werkself suffered a first defeat in the current pre-season fixtures. The sixth friendly of the summer ended in 2-1 reverse at Premier League Nottingham Forest. The English side took an early lead (4’) but Patrik Schick levelled just after the half-hour mark (32’). Nothing much happened after that, and the match looked set to end in a draw. However, the hosts managed to score the winning goal late on (90').
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen have loaned U19 midfielder Jeremiah Mensah to Dutch second-tier side Roda JC Kerkrade for one year. The 18-year-old Germany youth international has a long-term contract at the club to 2031.
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH has taken note of the final, non-binding statement issued by the Bundeskartellamt regarding the 50+1 rule and its application, and will now examine it carefully.
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