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 4-0 win at SGS Essen on the 24th matchday of the Google Pixel Frauen-Bundesliga 2025/26.
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In the previous game against RB Leipzig in December last year, the Werkself turned came from behind to win 3-1 and further improved Leverkusen's already strong record against the Red Bulls. Montrell Culbreath stood out with his first goal on his debut for the Black and Reds. While the 18-year-old would certainly like to score a second goal against Leipzig on Saturday night, the attack-minded visitors come to the BayArena in confident mood after five Bundesliga victories in a row. The Nordkurve12 supporters group knows the Werkself will therefore once again be reliant on the vociferous support of the fans, and has once again called for the ‘Finally Red’ campaign in the run-in. Today’s matchday news.
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Video games manufacturer Electronic Arts (EA), together with the German Football League (DFL), announced the top male and female selections for the 2025/26 Bundesliga season this week. Bayer 04 striker Vanessa Fudalla is in the starting eleven of the women's "Team of the Season". Alejandro Grimaldo and Aleix Garcia have been selected as bench players in the men's team.
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After matchday 31 and the 2-1 derby win in Cologne, one thing is certain: Bayer 04 will at least compete in the UEFA Europa League in the coming 2026/27 campaign. But the Werkself want more. Looking at the race for Champions League qualification and the remaining three league fixtures, including against direct rivals, bayer04.de outlines the possible scenarios in the season run-in.
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This special event showed once again how strong Bayer 04 are as a team: As part of ‘BarmeniaGothaer gives joy’, the Werkself players Edmond Tapsoba, Ibrahim Maza and Christian Kofane supported the sale of individually designed T-shirts for a good cause at the Fanwelt on Thursday. Several hundred fans came to take part in the charity campaign. Leverkusen's main sponsor BarmeniaGothaer donated the proceeds to the Fondation Edmond Tapsoba, which helps people in Tapsoba's home country of Burkina Faso in their challenging everyday lives.
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