The teams once met in the round of 16 of the 2006/07 UEFA Cup. Bayer 04 won the first leg 3-0, but despite a 2-1 defeat in the second leg, the Werkself progressed to the round of 16. Current sporting director Simon Rolfes and club representative Stefan Kiessling played in both games.
A curious feature of the Bollaert-Delelis stadium in Lens is that it is one of the few arenas where the home 'end' with the most loyal and loudest fans is located along the touchline and not, as is usually the case, behind one of the goals.
The friendly match will be streamed live in the Bayer 04 app as well as on the club's own YouTube channel and on Werkself-TV (German commentary only). ServusTV and DF1 will also broadcast the match live. In addition, the Bayer 04 live ticker (German language only) will keep you up to date so you don't miss anything of the match. Werkself-Radio will not be broadcasting.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen will have to manage without centre-back Edmond Tapsoba in the coming weeks. The Burkina Faso international returned to the Werkself from the Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco with a muscle injury.
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The Werkself are away to Hamburg SV at the end of the Hinrunde in the 2025/26 Bundesliga campaign. The match at the newly promoted club is on Tuesday night, 13 January (kick-off: 20:30 CET). Ahead of the first encounter with HSV since 2018, Kasper Hjulmand spoke about the strengths of the opponents, lessons learnt from the home defeat against VfB Stuttgart and provided a squad update.
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In Germany, the temperatures are currently around zero, leaving even professional footballers freezing - but not the Bayer 04 Women. Roberto Pätzold's team have fled the cold to the south and are preparing for the second half of the season at a training camp in the Algarve, almost 2,000 kilometres away from home as the crow flies. The Leverkusen squad landed in Faro on Saturday morning and have already completed the first three training sessions over the weekend.
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It was a disappointing Saturday night. The Werkself lost 4-1 to VfB Stuttgart to start the new year on Bundesliga matchday 16 in 2025/26, a result that left both players and fans disappointed. "We played without any passion," said Alejandro Grimaldo honestly afterwards. Teammate Jarell Quansah was even more self-critical, emphasising: "We were miles off it in the first half. You can't put in a performance like that, especially in front of our own fans and I can only apologise to them, to be honest." Read on for the reaction, facts and stats from the clash with VfB Stuttgart in the Werkself review.
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