Football is more than just a game. Bayer 04 will show that in the coming weeks as part of the #Morethanfootball Action Weeks campaign. At the start of the campaign, players and fans plus management and staff at over 100 participating clubs from across Europe are taking part in a virtual human chain – a large number of Black and Reds have already shown how it’s done.
How the new Werkself head coach Hannes Wolf, who was presented on Tuesday (HERE is the press release), shares a past with Leon Bailey at KRC Genk. The Jamaican played for the top-flight Belgian club for a year and a half from the 2015/16 season before signing for Bayer 04.
Bailey has played for the Werkself since January 2017. The 3-0 defeat at Hertha Berlin on the last matchday was the 150th appearance for the winger in a Bayer 04 shirt. He has scored 36 goals and provided 24 assist so far. Here’s to many more, Leon.
Among the best in the world: Werkself youngster Florian Wirtz has been voted into sixth place of the top talents, born before 1 January 2002, in the NGXN Awards from GOAL, the biggest publisher of digital football content worldwide. The 17-year-old Wirtz is not only a regular starter in the Bayer 04 midfield but he was also recently called up by Germany coach Joachim Löw to the Germany senior squad for the first time.
The NXGN is carried out annually and it highlights the best young talents in women’s and men’s football. The ranking is produced by over 100 pundits from 44 countries from GOAL’s global network. With the women, Hanna Bennison of FC Rosengard came out on top and Ansu Fati (FC Barcelona) won in the men’s section.
The coronavirus pandemic has had far-reaching effects on the current international break. The Bayer 04 internationals will not play in games being staged in the so-called ‘virus variant areas’. Patrik Schick was only due to play in the World Cup qualifier against Estonia on Wednesday 24 March (kick-off: 20.45 CET), which has been moved to Lublin in Poland.
As Cardiff is no longer in a virus variant area, the centre-forward will also be able to play against Wales. The match on Tuesday 30 Match kicks off at 20.45 CEST.
A special service for visually-impaired fans of the Bayer 04 Women’s team: The next home game in the FLYERLARM Women’s Bundesliga against Eintracht Frankfurt will be broadcast free of charge as an audio live commentary. The game received 80 per cent of all votes in the weekly vote for the ‘BENA-on-Air’. The home game against Frankfurt is on Friday 26 March with the kick-off at 19.15 CET. The broadcast starts ten minutes before kick-off. Click HERE for the broadcast.
A tip for watching the top game in the FFBL between the teams lying fifth and seventh in the table with the family: Switch on ‘BENA-on-Air’ and also follow the action on Eurosport.
The Leverkusen U19s were able to beat Rot-Weiß Oberhausen in a friendly at the weekend. The team under head coach Sven Hübscher beat their league rivals 6-1 at Kurtekotten. Samed Onur, who regularly trains with the first team, netted a hat-trick.
For the second time in four days, Bayer 04 face Borussia Dortmund this Tuesday evening, 2 December (kick-off: 21:00 CET) - this time in the round of 16 of the DFB Pokal, with more than 7,000 fans supporting the Werkself at Signal Iduna Park. After the recent 2-1 defeat to BVB in the league, several cup stats provide hope of revenge for the Black and Reds. There are several reasons why Bayer 04 recommends getting to the round of 16 clash early, in which VAR will be in use, unlike in the previous rounds. Read on for further information on tonight’s game in our matchday news.
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Werkself TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04's 2-1 loss to Borussia Dortmund on Matchday 12 of the 2025/26 Bundesliga season...
Bayer 04 were beaten 2-1 at home by Borussia Dortmund on Matchday 12 of the 2025/26 Bundesliga season. Although the Werkself had more of the play in the first half, the visitors went ahead through Aaron Anselmino. Karim Adeyemi doubled their advantage after the hour, but Christian Kofane gave Leverkusen late hope, although ultimately to no avail.
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There won’t just be plenty of excitement on the pitch as Bayer 04 host Borussia Dortmund at the BayArena at 18:30 CET on Saturday. Outside the stadium there will be collection points for food donations to the Leverkusen Foodbank, which will also benefit from the profits of a jersey raffle in the Fanwelt afterwards. There will also be a minute’s silence before kick-off following the passing of long-time Werkself player Dieter Herzog, before two fan clubs are honoured for their decades-long support at half-time and fans receive a talk about Orange Day, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. Here’s all you need to know ahead of the game in our matchday news.
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