The last Bundesliga home game of the season for the Werkself is against Schalke 04 on Saturday 11 May (15.30 CET). On matchday 33, Bayer 04 celebrate a weekend of events in honour of the 40th anniversary of promotion to the top flight and invite fans to take a trip back through time. The day after the Schalke game on Sunday (12 May, from 9.30 CET) Bayer 04 fans will have the opportunity to meet numerous black and red heroes of yesterday, today and tomorrow at the Day of Tradition in and around the BayArena. But there is more!
The weekend begins on Friday (10 May from 19.04 CET) with the chance to celebrate 'Promotion Day'. Almost 40 years to the day – 13 May 1979 to be exact – Bayer 04 drew 3-3 with Bayer 05 Uerdingen at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium to secure promotion to the Bundesliga and finally see the dream of top-flight football come true. This historic moment in the club's history sees the club dedicate their own event, including Q & A sessions, anecdotes and historic video material. Celebrate the whole evening with the Werkself and get to meet promotion heroes of 1979 and other surprise guests at the '19nullvier' lounge at the BayArena.
Tickets for 'Promotion Day' are available now for five euros from the Bayer 04 Fan Liaison (Fanhaus Bayer 04, Breidenbachstraße 46, 51373 Leverkusen) as well as from the Fan Kiste container from 13.30 CET on the day of the Werkself home game against FC Nürnberg (20 April, 15.30 CET). With every ticket sold, support goes to the Kreativ Schwarz-Rot (Creative Black and Red) club whose activities include financing and implementing creative ideas of the Leverkusen fans in the form of choreography. In addition, the price also includes a free drink.
After six and a half years, Exequiel Palacios is leaving the Bundesliga and moving from Bayer 04 to the Premier League. The Argentine, who as a Werkself player won the World Cup with his national team four years ago and finished as runners-up at this summer’s tournament, will play for newly promoted English side Ipswich Town with immediate effect. The 27-year-old, whose contract in Leverkusen was due to run until 30 June 2030, joined Bayer 04 in January 2020 as a promising young talent. He steadily developed into one of the best defensive midfielders in the German top flight.
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When Exequiel Palacios moved from the Argentinian club River Plate to Bayer Leverkusen on 1 January 2020, the then 21-year-old could not have imagined just how successful the next six and a half years would be for him. Pala, as he is known, had already won the Copa Libertadores – the most prestigious competition in South American club football – with River Plate. But there were still so many more trophies to come.
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To mark Exequiel Palacios’s departure, we’ve put together a compilation of the midfielder’s finest and most important goals from his six-and-a-half years at the club.
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Newly promoted SV 07 Elversberg will begin the 2026/27 season as Bundesliga club number 59. The Saarland club start their first Bundesliga campaign at home to the Werkself on Saturday, 29 August (kick-off 15:30 CEST) at the URSAPHARM Arena on Kaiserlinde, which is currently being rebuilt. For one Leverkusen player in the ‘Elv’ line-up, the clash will be a special reunion. The lowdown on our next opponents.
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Ernest Poku is leaving Bayer 04 Leverkusen to play in the Turkish Süper Lig. The club has loaned the Dutch winger to Beşiktaş for one year. If certain criteria are met, the Istanbul club – who finished fourth in the Turkish top flight last season – will be obliged to make the move permanent.
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