Football, with its enormous reach and attraction again and again serves as an outstanding platform to convey and promote values such as tolerance and integration. With this target, the European Football for Development Network (EFDN) has launched European-wide campaign FARE (Football Against Racism Europe). The project is supported by the EU with many clubs involved – including Bayer 04. The Werkself takes a clear stand against racism and discrimination.
Heiko Herrlich played for Bayer 04 for four years (1989-93) and 24 years later he returned to Leverkusen as head coach. The 48-year-old has been head coach at FCA since March – and, on matchday five, he brings his Augsburg team to face his former club.
“When Heiko came to us, he had won promotion with Jahn Regensburg twice in succession. And it all started really well here with us. After a disappointing twelfth-place finish in the previous season, he brought a wind of change and we had a decent season,” recalls the sporting managing director Rudi Völler. However, the team performed below expectations in the second season so the club management decided to replace Herrlich with Peter Bosz in December 2018.
“We get on well together now. I’m happy for him that he has made such a good start to the new season with Augsburg,” said Völler. Fernando Carro, chairman of the board, is also positive about the time with Heiko Herrlich: “He was the first coach I worked with as CEO at Bayer 04. We had a lot of regular communication – and even today – a good relationship. After the game against us, I obviously wish him every success with Augsburg.
In addition to Herrlich, there will be another former Leverkusen man in the away dugout on Monday. Iraklis Metaxas, youth coach at Bayer 04 from 2016 to 2019, joined Augsburg in the summer of 2020. Metaxas and Herrlich had already worked together at the DFB (2008/09) and that VfL Bochum (2009/10).
Which player should go into a jungle camp and who has to be filmed on a salsa course? Our players face these and many other amusing questions from this week on a regular basis in the new format ‘Spoilt for choice’ on the official Bayer 04 YouTube channel. First off is no less a person than Lars Bender, who sets his twin brother one or the other mean tasks and does not spare his other teammates either. If you want to know who was the best DJ at Lars Bender’s wedding and who held out longest in the ice bath then you must not miss the first episode. Click HERE for the video...
Christoph Daum can look back at a number of honours in his coaching career to date. Born in Zwickau, he started in the dugout at FC Köln and went on to win the German league title with VfB Stuttgart in 1992. Shortly after that he joined Besiktas. In Istanbul, he won the cup in 1994 and the league title a year later. Bayer 04 brought the coach back to the Bundesliga in 1996. Daum was head coach at Leverkusen to 2000. In his first season under the Bayer Cross, he finished runner-up in the Bundesliga and he earned a reward from the sports broadcaster ran; Premiere (today: Sky) named him coach of the season. Daum led the Werkself to the runners-up spot twice in 1997 and 1998.
The European drifter went on to win the double in Austria in 2003 with Austria Vienna. In 2004 and 2005 he won the Turkish league with Fenerbahçe. Daum’s most recent position as a coach was in 2016 to 2017 at the helm of the Romanian national team. On Saturday, the old hand, who received the most votes from Werkself fans as a coach in the vote for the Bundesliga All-Stars held as part of the club celebrations of 40 years in the Bundesliga, celebrates his 67th birthday – Bayer 04 wish him: Many happy returns!
A special visit to the BayArena: 222 members from volunteer fire brigades in Leverkusen, the Rheinisch-Bergisch district and the Oberbergisch district watched the Werkself’s 2–0 home win over Slovenian champions NK Celje live in the stadium. Bayer 04 had invited them to the 2026/27 Europa League opener as a thank-you for their tremendous dedication. They watched the match together in Block F4.
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The Bayer 04 U19s have extended their winning run with a fifth consecutive victory on Matchday 5 of the DFB Youth League’s preliminary round. Coach Patrick Greveraars’ side secured a 3–2 (2–1) win in their match against second-placed FC Viktoria Köln, with Burak Kir and Nebe Domnic scoring for the hosts in the first half before captain Ben Hawighorst found the net after the break.
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Bayer 04 will have to manage without defender Guéla Doué for the time being. The Ivory Coast international sustained a muscle injury to his right calf during the final Werkself training session yesterday ahead of the Europa League clash with Slovenian champions NK Celje.
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For the first time since reaching the final against AS Roma (2–2, first leg 2–0) in May 2024, Bayer 04 are playing another home match in the UEFA Europa League – and they will be wearing their new European kit. On Wednesday 16 September (kick-off: 21:00 CEST), the BayArena will welcome Slovenian champions NK Celje, who appointed a new coach this week following a mixed start to the season. Under the slogan “40 Years Across Europe. Still Creating History.”, the Black and Reds now aim to add the next chapter to their European history, which has seen so much success in recent years. Bayer 04 fans can follow the match on free-to-air TV on RTL, as well as on Sky and Werkself Radio. The matchday news.
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European football returns to the BayArena: Bayer 04 host Slovenian champions NK Celje on matchday 1 in the group stage of the 2026/27 UEFA Europa League. Ahead of the match on Wednesday 16 September (kick-off: 21:00 CEST), head coach Carles Martínez and midfielder Aleix Garcia spoke at the pre-match press conference. The focus was primarily on the great anticipation surrounding the competition and the clear objectives for it – and, given the circumstances, on a last-minute change to the opposition line-up.
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