Florian Wirtz celebrated his 18th birthday less than two weeks ago and the Werkself striker has now clocked up the next record in the Bundesliga. Our number 27 scored the first goal in the home game against Union Berlin and played a big part in the 1-1 draw. The opening goal at the BayArena was his sixth in the Bundesliga and Wirtz is the youngest player to score that number at the age of 18 years and 12 days. He takes over the mantle from Bayern Munich’s Jamal Musiala (18 years, 50 days). Carry on, Flo!
Following the final home game and the warm-down session on Sunday, the Werkself had the day off on Monday with only a couple volunteers on training pitch 1 in the morning. Up to the last game of the season on Saturday, 22 May (kick-off: 15.30 CEST) away to Borussia Dortmund, the squad under head coach Hannes Wolf will train every day. Charles Aránguiz and Co. will also spend the rest of their time at Bismarckstraße – as part of the quarantine training camps for all Bundesliga teams ordered by the DFL the Bayer 04 group will spend the final days of the 2020/21 season at the Lindner Hotel BayArena.
After the session on Friday morning, the Werkself will head off to the Ruhr region to the matchday hotel.
This week promises to be as emotional as the past few days. The Bender brothers Sven and Lars leave the German football stage at the end of the season as two exemplary players and personalities. Like the Werkself with the Europa League, the next opponents from Dortmund achieved their minimum target for the season at the weekend – the Black and Yellows will finish in the top four.
Two Werkself players will join the long-term absentees in missing the final match of the campaign: Nadiem Amiri and Edmond Tapsoba each picked up a fifth yellow card against FC Union Berlin. The suspension of central defender Tapsoba could give Sven Bender the chance to appear at his former in his last outing – possibly from the start. Head coach Wolf said: “It’s great that Sven’s last match is in Dortmund. But it’s also a great pity that there won’t be any fans there. Otherwise, we’d definitely experience something special there.”
Another successful campaign by Werkself fans. The day after the clash with Union Berlin, supporters were able to secure seats from Block C. Due to coronavirus regulations it was necessary to register with the Bayer 04 fan liaison office. They allocated individual time slots enabling fans to their seats from the BayArena in their cars.
The seats from the BayArena will adorn numerous gardens and cellar bars – and that includes far beyond the city boundary of Leverkusen. Fans travelled by car to collect their seats from Mainz, Heidelberg, Unna, Aachen and Essen. They all made donations to PalliLev hospice. A total of €7,000 was raised. A big thank you to everybody who joined in.
The penultimate weekend of the season also brought decisions in the Third Division. League leaders Dynamo Dresden secured promotion at the first attempt with a 4-0 home win against Türkgücü Munich. An important contribution to the return to second tier was due to two former Leverkusen players who are now members of the Dresden coaching staff.
Heiko Scholz, a Werkself player from 1992 to 1995, has been the assistant coach for the past 18 months. David Yelldell, at Bayer 04 from 2011 to 2016, has been the goalkeeping coach at Dresden since last summer – and he can celebrate both promotion and the least goals conceded by any third division team this term. Bayer 04 send their congratulations.
He came to Kurtekotten when he was 13 and progressed through the ranks to the first team: Fabian Giefer joined the Werkself senior squad in 2009 and he went on to make eight appearances in the following three years. He made another 85 for the second team and the U19s.
His career path took him via Düsseldorf, Schalke 04, Bristol City (England) and Augsburg to his current club Würzburger Kickers. Giefer made 13 appearances for bottom team in the second division. Fabian celebrated his 31st birthday on Monday. Many happy returns.
The VBL Club Championship by WOW 2025/26 continues today, Tuesday 18 November, with the last two of the six online preliminary round matches in the second showdown. Starting at 18:00 CET, Bayer 04 face Karlsruher SC, followed by Borussia Mönchengladbach at 19:00 CET. The games will be streamed live on the Bayer 04 app and on the club Twitch channel. The lowdown on our next opponents.
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Just 11 days after their last encounter in the Bundesliga, Bayer 04 Women meet Hamburger SV again. On Sunday (15:00 CET), the two teams will be battling it out at the Volksparkstadion for a place in the DFB Cup quarter-finals. Coach Roberto Pätzold is aware of his team's status as favourites against the promoted outfit - and knows what it will come down to against the awkward opponents.
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Bayer 04 Women goalkeeper Charlotte Voll has been hit by injury again. The 26-year-old suffered an acromioclavicular joint separation in her left shoulder in the latter stages of the Bundesliga match at SC Freiburg on Monday and is set to be sidelined for a number of months. She underwent successful surgery in Düsseldorf on Friday.
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Like they did in the first showdown of the VBL Club Championship by WOW, which the Leverkusen gamers won in spectacular style, Marc and Sean Landwehr also started the second showdown with six points by beating TSG Hoffenheim and VfL Bochum 1848, last-16 participants of the first showdown. The #B04eSports team suffered defeat to SV Darmstadt 98 and Hertha BSC. Meanwhile, Keanu Senkbeil made his VBL CC debut in the clash with the capital club.
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The Bayer 04 Women will end 2025 with the Bundesliga top match against Bayern Munich on Monday night, 22 December. The schedule for matchdays 12 to 15 has been announced by the German Football Association (DFB). In addition to two away games on Fridays, Leverkusen also have a home game on a Saturday lunchtime.
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