The DFB have appointed Felix Zwayer to referee the game. The 40-year-old has overseen 28 previous Leverkusen fixtures, producing 15 wins, five draws and eight defeats. His assistants are Rafael Foltyn and Marco Achmüller. Sören Storks is the VAR.
For everyone who can’t be cheering on the team from the round today, they can tune into the Werkself Radio as usual. It’s available on bayer04.de and in the new Bayer 04 app.
The Bayer 04 fan support has all you need to know on the game at the Ruhrstadion. The away seats can only be reached via the signposted visitor entrance on Castroper Straße. You cannot reach the away seating area via another entrance. Glass is also banned in and around the stadium for Bochum home games. More info HERE.
The oldest of today’s birthday boys is Oliver Page. The former central defender came through the academy to the first team in 1989/90 and made six Bundesliga appearances for the Werkself. Page is now coach of the U19s at TSV Steinbach.
Junior Fernandes turns 34 on Sunday. The left-back moved to Leverkusen in summer 2012 from Club Universidad de Chile. He made 13 appearances in his one and only season for Bayer 04. The 20-time Chile international then moved to Dinamo Zagreb in Croatia. Fernandes is back in his homeland as of this season.
The third man celebrating today is Ayman Azhil. The central midfielder has also come through the Leverkusen youth system, playing for Bayer 04 in the U17 and U19 Bundesliga. The Düsseldorf native is now on loan at Waalwijk in the Netherlands and turns 21 today. Happy birthday to you all!
It was another incredibly close call in the end: The second showdown in the 2026/27 VBL Club Championship saw the #B04eSports team once again narrowly miss out on a place in the top 16 of the preliminary round – and with it, a spot in the in-person knockout stage. It was a bitter blow: Marc and Sean Landwehr again fell just short, despite being level on points with their rivals. As was the case last month, their weaker record across the twelve individual matches in the six preliminary round fixtures proved decisive.
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“They stuck with us over the past few weeks when things weren’t going so well,” said captain Edmond Tapsoba, thanking the fans for their support after the 2–1 win in Cologne and dedicating the derby victory to them. Throughout the 90 minutes, the Werkself had looked unfazed and in command, inflicting the first home defeat of the season on FC Köln. It was the sixth consecutive win against the Cologne team for Bayer 04 – head coach Carles Martínez, on the other hand, was facing the team from the neighbouring city for the first time and “now really knows what this derby win means”. The Werkself derby review.
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Following the 2–1 derby victory away at FC Köln on Bundesliga matchday 9, Edmond Tapsoba, Malik Tillman and Aleix Garcia spoke to Werkself TV...
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Werkself TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04's 2-1 derby win at 1. FC Köln Matchday 9 of the 2026/27 Bundesliga season...
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There were celebrations among those in black and red at the RheinEnergieSTADION. On Matchday 9 of the 2026/27 Bundesliga season, the Werkself beat 1. FC Köln 2-0 and registered their sixth successive win in the derby. Aleix Garcia put Bayer 04 in front after just seven minutes with a direct free kick. Leverkusen played with discipline and energy after that and didn't allow some fierce challenges to unsettle them. Patrik Schick made it 2-0 in the 86th minute, and Said El Mala's goal in stoppage time for Köln proved nothing more than consolation. Jonas Hofmann crowned the derby win with his 100th appearance for the club.
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