His as yet short career started back home in Cameroon. From AS Nylon in Douala, the biggest city in the country, in November of last year he joined the youth set-up at partner club Albacete, which lies in land between Madrid and Valencia.
Starting with the U19 team, the 1.89 metre tall Christian Kofane made his senior debut in January of this year in Spain’s second tier. The beefy centre-forward started in the 2-2 draw with Racing de Santander – and he scored his first goal after just 114 seconds.
Kofane went from strength to strength in La Liga 2 and at the end of his first season he had clocked up 20 appearances – including 17 starts – and he scored eight goals. That makes him the second highest goalscorer at Albacete despite missing the Hinrunde.
Kofane now has a contract with the Werkself. Managing director sport Simon Rolfes said about the signing: “Christian Kofane is an extremely powerful and fast striker, technically gifted and very prolific. He will help make our game more variable with his strengths.”
Kofane is also looking forward to the next chapter in his career as a footballer with great anticipation: “I will give everything to take this chance in the Bundesliga. In the history of Bayer 04 there are lots of examples of young players who have achieved great things here."
The Werkself face Manchester City for the very first time on Tuesday for Matchday 5 of the league phase in the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League (kick-off: 21:00 CET). The hosts sit fourth in the standings and boast huge quality in attack, while Leverkusen are looking to improve their meagre record of just one win from the last 10 games away at English clubs. A key player in that regard could be Aleix Garcia, the former City midfielder who ranks highly in several passing metrics in the Champions League this season. Here’s all you need to know ahead of the game in our matchday news.
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The Werkself's next European trip takes them to the north-west of England as Kasper Hjulmand's side take on Manchester City on Tuesday, 25 November (kick-off: 21:00 CET) on Matchday 5 in the league phase of the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League campaign. As usual, we'll take you along on the #aCROSSeurope journey and report from Manchester. All times listed are in CET.
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The dress rehearsal in the Premier League for the match against the Werkself did not go well at the weekend. However, Manchester City are still unbeaten in the UEFA Champions League, the competition they won in 2023. In the first encounter with Bayer 04 this Tuesday, 25 November (kick-off: 21:00 CET), coach Pep Guardiola will be able to field just about his best line-up. The lowdown on our next opponents.
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Will the Bayer 04 U19s take the next step towards their first appearance in the knockout stage of the UEFA Youth League in the away game at Manchester City? Coach Kevin Brok is well aware of this historic opportunity, but he's not about to start worrying about the maths: "We're not concerned with the question of what might be good enough. We invest everything we can and always aim for the maximum. That's our way." The game on this penultimate Matchday 5 of the league phase takes place on Tuesday, 25 November (kick-off: 16:00 CET) at the Manchester City Academy Stadium. Werkself TV will be broadcasting the whole match exclusively for Bayer 04 club members live from 15:50 CET....
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€1,000 and food for a good cause: In keeping with the long-standing cooperation between Bayer 04 and the Tafel Leverkusen e.V. food bank, the U19s are also supporting the charitable organisation in the region. In addition to the generous cheque the team were able to donate to an organisation of their choice as a result of their participation in the UEFA Youth League, coach Kevin Brok's lads donated €500 worth of food - financed by their own team kitty. Ferdinand Pohl, Jesper Schlich and Co. also actively helped to stow the food in the Tafel's premises.
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