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.
Werkself-TV shows the highlights of the Bayer 04 women's 1-2 loss against VfL Wolfsburg on the 2nd matchday of the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga 2026/27.
In the 3-2 defeat at Bundesliga newcomers SV 07 Elversberg, the Werkself found the back of the net in the closing stages and, with a bit of luck, could still have equalised. “Today, our play wasn’t good enough, particularly when it came to the basics,” said head coach Carles Martínez. Like the boss, Ibrahim Maza also wants to learn from the match and look ahead: “Next week, people should be able to see from the very first minute that we want it more than our opponents.” The Werkself review on the Bundesliga opener in 2026/27.
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No points to start the league campaign: Bayer 04 lost 3-2 away to newly promoted SV 07 Elversberg in the first Bundesliga match of the 2026/27 campaign. Two quick-fire goals from Lukas Petkov (8’) and Cole Campbell (10’) gave the hosts an early lead, before David Mokwa scored the Saarland side’s third shortly after half-time (46’). In the closing stages, the Werkself rallied and staged a late comeback with goals from Patrik Schick (77’) and Christian Kofane (90+1’), but the Black and Reds were denied an equaliser.
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The Black and Reds kick off the new Bundesliga campaign today, Saturday 29 August (kick-off 15:30 CEST), away to newly promoted SV 07 Elversberg – and the Werkself will come up against a familiar face who is currently causing a stir at ‘Elv’. For an affordable and easy journey to the Saarland, the 1,600 travelling fans can still use the WERKSELFgo car-share platform. Today’s matchday news..
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The European jersey has been launched, the UEL opponents have been drawn – and anticipation for the European campaign is running high. To mark the occasion, an autograph session was held on Friday afternoon, 28 August, at the Fanwelt with current Werkself player Montrell Culbreath and official club legend Paulo Sergio.
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