New Year with light and shade
On the back of a few days rest, the Werkself look to get back on track in the New Year following the unlucky last-minute defeat against FC Bayern – that is only partially successful in spite of all the effort. A 2-1 loss against Eintracht Frankfurt in the first match of 2021, a draw with Werder Bremen (1-1) plus another setback against FC Union Berlin (0-1) ensures a run of four games without a win. Nevertheless, the team under Peter Bosz on 32 points pick up a 2-1 win against Borussia Dortmund on matchday 17, with Florian Wirtz scoring the winner late-on, and are third in the table at the halfway stage behind FC Bayern (39 points) and RB Leipzig (35 points). Another bright spot in an otherwise miserable January in 2021: reaching the DFB Cup Round of 16. In spite of going 1-0 down early on and temporarily being a player short, Bayer 04 turn the second round tie against Eintracht Frankfurt round to win 4-1.
Reinforcement from Britain
Bayer 04 make three moves in the transfer market in the winter transfer window. Jeremie Frimpong (Celtic), Demarai Gray (Leicester City) plus Timothy Fosu-Mensah (Manchester United) sign for Leverkusen to strengthen the squad.
Contrasting fortunes
The fact that runs not only produce joy and feelings of happiness but also have a darker side was experienced by Bayer 04 at the start of the second half of the season. Between matchdays 18 and 26, Peter Bosz and his team only pick up two wins in Germany’s top flight – the 5-2 home win on matchday 20 against VfB Stuttgart with three assists from winger Moussa Diaby along with the hard-earned 1-0 victory at Borussia Mönchengladbach was one of the few convincing performances by the Werkself.
Turn three into one
The Black and Reds fare no better in the other competitions: First comes the exit from the DFB Cup at the start of February in a 2-1 defeat after extra time against Regional League Rot-Weiss Essen, then the Werkself lose twice in the Europa League Round of 16 to Young Boys Bern coached by Gerardo Seoane 3-4 and 0-2 – a season that started with such promise threatens to end in disappointment. The target for the season in the remaining competition of the Bundesliga is European qualification.
Wolf replaces Bosz
The Leverkusen management set about that without the previous head coach. After the exits from the cup competitions and mixed fortunes in the second half of the Bundesliga season, Bayer 04 react to the 2-1 home defeat against Arminia Bielefeld and the 3-0 loss at Hertha Berlin on matchday 26 by parting company with Peter Bosz. His successor Hannes Wolf is brought in from the DFB on loan to take charge of the team to the end of the season along with Miguel Moreira and Bayer 04 legend Peter Hermann. That is designed to provide a boost for the Werkself in the race for European qualification.
Today brings the first match of the season for the Werkself. Bayer 04 kick off the 2026/27 campaign today, Saturday 22 August, at 13:00 CEST with a first-round DFB Pokal tie away to third-tier side SV Wehen Wiesbaden. The 3,700 travelling fans can not only look forward to what will hopefully be a successful start to the season, but also now organise their journeys to Black and Reds games even more easily via the WERKSELFgo car-share platform. Meanwhile, following two defeats at the start of the league season, SV Wehen are hoping to spring a surprise in the DFB Pokal tie. Today’s matchday news.
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Carolin Simon is the new captain of the Bayer 04 women’s team. The full-back, who joined from Bayern Munich in the summer, will take over the captain’s armband for the 2026/27 season. Simon returned to Leverkusen in the summer after ten years away. The 33-year-old succeeds goalkeeper Friederike Repohl, who retired at the end of last season.
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Bayer 04 start the 2026/27 season away to third-division side SV Wehen Wiesbaden. Ahead of the DFB Pokal tie on Saturday 22 August (kick-off: 13:00 CEST), head coach Carles Martínez spoke at the pre-match press conference on Friday afternoon. The topics: anticipation, passion, the fans’ support – and the captaincy for the new season.
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After 62 days of preparation, the time has finally come: the Werkself kick off the new Google Pixel Women’s Bundesliga season on Sunday (16:00 CEST) with an away match at RB Leipzig. Following a major shake-up over the summer, with eleven players leaving and twelve new signings, initial impressions from the past few weeks have given manager Roberto Pätzold great cause for optimism.
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SV Wehen Wiesbaden undoubtedly envisaged a different start to the new season. After two matchdays, the Hessen side currently sit bottom of the Liga 3 table. On Saturday 22 August (kick-off: 13:00 CEST), SVWW host the Werkself in the first round of the DFB Pokal at their home ground, the BRITA Arena. It was there, in this very competition a year ago, that the club almost pulled off a massive upset. The lowdown on our next opponents.
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