After the final whistle in the game against FC Augsburg last Sunday (0-0) there was no longer any doubt: Schalke 04 will play in the Bundesliga again next season. At least the potential Royal Blue mega disaster has been avoided at the end of an otherwise almost completely disappointing campaign. After finishing as runners-up last season, coach Dominico Tedesco and sporting managing director Christian Heidel were celebrated as the architects of success. But by the middle of March neither was still in post: Heidel had resigned and Tedesco had been sacked – both for the same reason: They carried the responsibility for a team that was unable to build on the performances of the previous campaign and ended up in a relegation battle rather than the race for a European finish. Tedesco has been replaced by Huub Stevens who was able to give a positive spin on the whole season in just one game: The 4-2 derby win at Borussia Dortmund not only meant success in definitely the most prodigious game of the season but also inflicted a blow on the arch rivals in the title race, and, last but not least, three important points in the battle to stay up. Schalke are still 15th in the table but cannot finish lower. In the best possible scenario they can move up to 12th position.
At the end of a season that will lead to major rebuilding, Stevens has been relying more and more on the future of the club: on homegrown youngsters. The talented 19-year-old striker Ahmed Kutucu started against Augsburg and in Nassim Boujellab they have another promising youngster from the Schalke youth setup who Stevens has brought off the bench in several games. The squad also includes the two defenders Jonas Carls (from 2005 to 2016 in the youth section at Bayer 04) and George Timotheu who normally play for the Royal Blues reserves. It is possible that Stevens – also because of injury issues – will give some of the young players another chance against the Werkself on Saturday. The same applies to the 18-year-old forward Rabbi Matondo. The Welshman joined Schalke at the start of the year from Manchester City and he showed huge potential after coming on as a sub against Augsburg. In order to give the youngsters a chance, Stevens has even left out established players like Yevhen Konoplyanka and Nabil Bentaleb.
In a season where many players failed to live up to expectations it was the attacking side of the game that suffered most at Schalke 04. Often there was a lack of ideas up front and at times the football lacked any dynamism. The result: The Royal Blues strikers rarely had clear-cut chances with the internal top scorers list being led by Daniel Caligiuri who is the designated penalty taker in the team: The Schalke derby hero has scored four of his seven goals this season from the penalty spot. On top of that there have been injury problems in attacking positions: For Mark Uth, who arrived from Hoffenheim with greater expectations ahead of the campaign, the season is already over due to a groin injury and Steven Skrzybski (thigh) may not be fit to play against Bayer 04. One positive is the return of Guido Burgstaller who missed the Augsburg game due to the birth of his child.
It is a period of upheaval – and above all, weeks of searching. Sporting managing director Jochen Schneider, who was only appointed in March, will have to fill three key posts before the start of the new season. That is a new coach, sporting director and squad development expert. Regardless of which trio joins Schalke in the summer: The first task will be to bring calm to a club rocked by crisis. As the first season under Tedesco showed, it is possible to achieve success with the ongoing outstanding youth development work and a high quality team.
Schalke could be a very tough opponent for the Werkself: After a disappointing season, the Royal Blues have a new mentality and also the euphoria of the derby win two weeks ago. The young and hungry youth players want to prove that they can play a bigger role next season. And that's what they are already working on in Gelsenkirchen. So there should be a change in fortune in the next campaign – and with the right personnel decisions in the coming weeks that could definitely be achievable.
Rüdiger Vollborn has been at the club for 40 years, he holds the record number of Bundesliga appearances for the club (401) and is the only Bayer 04 player to have won both the UEFA Cup (1988) and the DFB Pokal (1993). And the Berliner stayed with the Werkself after ending his impressive playing career as he worked as a goalkeeping coach for the following nine years. Vollborn now works under the Bayer Cross as a fan liaison officer and club archivist. Since February 2021, the personalised Black and Red lexicon takes Werkself fans under the heading of 'Rudi recounts...' on a brief trip through the history of Bayer 04 every month…
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"In every ending lies a new beginning" is a well-known saying. This phrase has probably never been more apt at Bayer 04. After winning the Bundesliga in 2023/24 and finishing as runners-up in 2024/25, the summer was the most eventful ever in terms of transfers. Over ten players and the coach, including the coaching staff, left the club. A lot of the heroes of the double-winning side began a new chapter. It was the end of an era. And at the same time the beginning of a new, very exciting and promising chapter for Leverkusen. The Werkself welcomed more than a dozen new arrivals, including experienced title-winners and young talents, to build a new "foundation for a successful team capable of winning titles" under the Bayer Cross, as managing director sport Simon Rolfes put it. A new spirit, a new hunger, a new story was to be created. Bayer04.de looks back at the first few months of this story and the final act of the preseason.
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43 points at the end of the last Bundesliga season were not only more than ever before for the Bayer 04 Women, but also led to a record fourth-place finish. That was followed by a Hinrunde with many more victories, but also some setbacks. In an interview with bayer04.de, sporting director Achim Feifel takes stock at the end of the year.
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With their wonderful goals, Martin Terrier and Florian Wirtz are up for the Bundesliga Goal of the Year 2025. Voting for fans will run exclusively via the official Bundesliga app until Sunday, 4 January.
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A record-breaking year ends for the Bayer 04 Women. Fourth place, 13 wins and 43 points in the 2024/25 campaign - the Werkself have never been so good in the Bundesliga. Coach Roberto Pätzold's team also had plenty of reasons to celebrate in the first half of the new Bundesliga season - although there were also a few disappointments. A look back at 2025 for the Bayer 04 Women’s team.
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