At the end of the first week of training, the Werkself – as in the previous pre-season – are away to Regional League side Wuppertaler SV. The match at the Stadion am Zoo on Saturday 6 July kicks off at 17.00 CET. Tickets are available from the Wuppertaler SV ticket shop.
On Saturday 13 July and on Sunday 28 July there are two double matchdays at the Kurtekotten Academy. On 13 July, it starts with the match against Fortuna Sittard followed by the game against KAS Eupen. Tickets for these two friendlies go on sale on Tuesday 2 July. The 1,200 tickets at a cost of three euros each will be sold exclusively by the Bayer 04 Shop in Wiesdorf and the Fan House on Breidenbachstraße 46. The proceeds from the ticket sales will be donated to the Leverkusen Fan Project.
The ticket price and sales procedure for the second double matchday at Kurtekotten on 28 July will be the same. The start of ticket sales will be announced at a later date. The opponents for the friendlies at Kurtekotten are Heracles Almelo (Kick-off: 15.00 CET) and Vitesse Arnhem (Kick-off: 17.00 CET) on the Sunday.
Six friendlies have already been arranged for the pre-season including the game against FC Valencia as part of the season launch on Sunday 4 August (Kick-off: 14.00 CET). Tickets will be available through the usual channels from 9 July. Only the opponents and dates for the matches during the training camp in Zell am See/Kaprun (15 – 21 July) will be announced at a later date.
Fortuna Sittard: Last season, the newcomers to the Eredivisie just avoided relegation with the 15th-place finish. Sittard were back in the Dutch top-flight in 2018 for the first time in 16 years. The top scorer last season was the American Andrija Novakovich with nine goals. The club played in the European Cup Winners Cup in 1984/85 losing out to Everton in the quarter-finals (0-3 and 0-2). That was followed in 1998 by an appearance in the Intertoto Cup where Sittard lost to Austria Salzburg in the semi-finals (2-1 and 1-3). Bayer 04 beat the visitors from Sittard last summer in a 2-0 victory in a friendly.
KAS Eupen: Eupen finished twelfth in Belgium's Jupiler League last season. One player in the team last season is already well-known in Leverkusen: Julian Schauerte, brought through the youth ranks at Bayer 04, played for KAS last season but has now joined third division Preußen Münster in the summer. The 31-year-old played for Fortuna Düsseldorf and SV Sandhausen before that. Eupen have a large number of African players in their squad after the Aspire Zone Foundation from Qatar started investing in the club in 2012. Bayer 04 lost 2-1 to Eupen in a friendly at the Haberland Stadium in 2013.
Heracles Almelo: Almelo finished seventh in the Eredivisie last season. The top striker for the team was the Spanish forward Adrian Dalmau with 19 goals. The team is managed by Frank Wormuth who previously worked for the DFB as coach of the Germany U20s and director of coach training. Bayer 04 coach Peter Bosz was twice manager at Heracles, from 2004 to 2006 and then from 2010 to 2013. Almelo reached the third qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League in 2016 but went out after two draws against FC Arouca (1-1 and 0-0).
Vitesse Arnhem: Peter Bosz also coached Vitesse from 2013 to January 2016 before moving on to Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel. Arnhem finished fifth in the Eredivisie last season and lost out on qualification for the Europa League with a 2-0 defeat against Utrecht in the play-offs. The top scorer last season was Brian Linsson with 12 goals and the Norwegian Martin Ödegaard, on loan from Real Madrid, scored eight. In 2017 Vitesse beat AZ Alkmaar 2-0 in the Dutch cup competition. The coach of the current Arnhem team is Leonid Sluzki who coached Russia at the 2016 European Championships. In 2013, Bayer 04 beat Vitesse 4-0 in a pre-season friendly.
The Bayer 04 U19s have extended their winning run with a fifth consecutive victory on Matchday 5 of the DFB Youth League’s preliminary round. Coach Patrick Greveraars’ side secured a 3–2 (2–1) win in their match against second-placed FC Viktoria Köln, with Burak Kir and Nebe Domnic scoring for the hosts in the first half before captain Ben Hawighorst found the net after the break.
Show more
Bayer 04 will have to manage without defender Guéla Doué for the time being. The Ivory Coast international sustained a muscle injury to his right calf during the final Werkself training session yesterday ahead of the Europa League clash with Slovenian champions NK Celje.
Show more
For the first time since reaching the final against AS Roma (2–2, first leg 2–0) in May 2024, Bayer 04 are playing another home match in the UEFA Europa League – and they will be wearing their new European kit. On Wednesday 16 September (kick-off: 21:00 CEST), the BayArena will welcome Slovenian champions NK Celje, who appointed a new coach this week following a mixed start to the season. Under the slogan “40 Years Across Europe. Still Creating History.”, the Black and Reds now aim to add the next chapter to their European history, which has seen so much success in recent years. Bayer 04 fans can follow the match on free-to-air TV on RTL, as well as on Sky and Werkself Radio. The matchday news.
Show more
European football returns to the BayArena: Bayer 04 host Slovenian champions NK Celje on matchday 1 in the group stage of the 2026/27 UEFA Europa League. Ahead of the match on Wednesday 16 September (kick-off: 21:00 CEST), head coach Carles Martínez and midfielder Aleix Garcia spoke at the pre-match press conference. The focus was primarily on the great anticipation surrounding the competition and the clear objectives for it – and, given the circumstances, on a last-minute change to the opposition line-up.
Show more
The champions of Slovenia NK Celje are in a European competition for the fourth time in their history. This Wednesday, 16 September (kick-off: 21:00 CEST), the side lead by head coach Vitor Campelos visit the BayArena for matchday 1 in the group stage in the UEFA Europa League. Celje’s last match at the weekend did not go to plan. The lowdown on our next opponents.
Show more
