The New York Times’ Rory Smith pointed out that “Leverkusen has illuminated the European season like no other team in winning its first German championship, after 120 years of trying. And it has also overtaken Benfica as the owner of the longest unbeaten run in European soccer since World War I."
Top U.S. sports outlet The Athletic wrote "for 54 games, Bayer 04 held the world’s attention... aside from the flowing football, the growth of Xabi Alonso, the flagging careers coming back to life (Granit Xhaka, Jonas Hofmann, Alex Grimaldo) and new stars being born (Florian Wirtz, Jeremie Frimpong, Victor Boniface), it all just looked so much fun!"
World's leading business paper from the UK, Financial Times, wrote that Bayer Leverkusen's impressive performance this season will be "hailed as a chance to boost Bundesliga’s global appeal" while its U.S. counterpart the Wall Street Journal labeled Leverkusen "the team that forgot how to lose" with a headline last week as it pointed to Bayer 04's historic 51-match unbeaten streak.
The Guardian wrote that there is likely more to come: "The double is just the start of the journey for evolving Bayer Leverkusen." Continued writer Andy Brassell: "Alonso’s side have been a juggernaut, trampling all in their way and, on the occasions they have found themselves behind, eventually reeling in their opponents with increasing inevitability. They have transformed Germany’s and the continent’s expectations of them, and their expectations of themselves."
So continued many other top sports dailies across Europe. "Xabi Alonso's Leverkusen completes the double in a spectacular season," wrote Spain's leading sports journal Marca, while France's L'Equipe wrote that "Bayer Leverkusen put an exclamation point on its historic season by capturing the double."
"Thanks to a fireball from Xhaka in the 17th minute, Xabi Alonso's men made up for the defeat in the Europa League final and ended the season with the double," said Corriere dello Sport in Italy.
CBS Sports (USA) wrote "the first German double winners to go through an entire domestic campaign without defeat. That there was no Europa League title to go with it should barely dull the triumph for a club that has so often borne witness to the glory of others."
Said ESPN soccer insider Alejandro Moreno after the season concluded: "now Bayer 04 Leverkusen have become the talk of the town, the talk of the league, the talk of Europe! They are attracting the attention from everywhere."
Barely two weeks since beating St. Pauli in the DFB Pokal quarter-finals, Bayer 04 again welcome the Hamburg club to the BayArena for Matchday 22 in the Bundesliga this Saturday (kick-off: 15:30 CET). The visitors received a welcome confidence boost last weekend with a win over VfB Stuttgart, but the head-to-head record is still very much in Leverkusen’s favour, which Kasper Hjulmand’s team will look to maintain. Here’s all you need to know ahead of the game in our matchday news.
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Werkself-TV shows the highlights of the Bayer 04 women's 2-1 win against FC Köln on the 18th matchday of the Google Pixel Frauen-Bundesliga 2025/26.
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In preparation for the Bundesliga home match against FC St. Pauli on Saturday, 14 February (kick-off: 15:30 CET), the Werkself had a full week of training for the first time since the first match in 2026. At the press conference ahead of the clash against the relegation-threatened Kiezkicker, coach Kasper Hjulmand spoke about the intensive work during the week and the lessons learnt. The Dane also announced the good news that Ibrahim Maza is available again.
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen are strengthening the squad for next season with the addition of Serbia U19 international Aleksa Damjanovic. The 17-year-old centre-forward is set to join the Bundesliga club in the summer from Serbian champions Red Star Belgrade. Damjanovic, who also has Austrian citizenship, has signed a long-term contract.
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