The Werkself are in the last four on the European stage for the fourth time in the club's history. They were knocked out by Palma in the UEFA Cup in 1994/95, the Black and Reds reached the finals of the UEFA Cup in 1987/88 and the Champions League in 2001/02. Bayer 04 are looking for a repeat in the current campaign as sporting managing director Simon Rolfes said after the final whistle in the second leg at Union Saint-Gilloise: "There's just one target and that's the final."
The route to the final in the Europa League in 2022/23 is via AS Roma. The top Italian team beat Feyenoord after extra time in the quarter-finals and they have some famous players in Stephan El Shaarawy, Georginio Wijnaldum and Paulo Dybala. José Mourinho, the current coach at AS Roma, will face one of his former players at Real Madrid in the games against the Werkself: today's Bayer 04 head coach Xabi Alonso. "We want to give our all in the league and in Europe," declared the Spaniard after reaching the semi-finals.
The Werkself play the first leg in Rome on 11 May with the kick-off at 21.00 CEST (ticket information to follow). That is followed a week later by the second leg at the BayArena in Leverkusen, which was sold out after 90 minutes.
The Werkself can also count on the full support of their fans in the Bundesliga: Four of the last five league home games have been sold out. And all the home tickets have been sold for the match against RB Leipzig on Sunday (kick-off: 17.30 CEST). 29,000 fans are expected at the BayArena including 713 from Leipzig.
The Werkself are then away to Union Berlin. The away allocation has been sold out. The following home derby against FC Köln is also a sell-out..
Success on the pitch and the good atmosphere at the BayArena have helped to ensure a rapid increase in membership numbers at Bayer 04 over recent weeks: The threshold of 33,000 members was achieved a few days ago and now there are 1,000 more. Bayer 04 look forward to great support for the season run-in.
Us. For our dream.
The team departs for Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on Monday for the Bayer 04 Brazil Tour 2025 from July 14-24. The preseason journey marks a change from recent training camps in the Austrian Alps and Black Forest and we caught up with CEO Fernando Carro to ask him about this summer's visit to Brazil.
Show moreMalik Tillman and the USA could not quite achieve the hoped-for big win in their own country. Last Monday’s final in the CONCACAF Gold Cup in Houston ended up in a 2-1 defeat for the hosts against Mexico. But the Bayer 04 new signing can be very happy with the course of the tournament and his own performances. Tillman was in the starting line-up for all six games. That concluded an impressive season for him after winning the Eredivisie title in the Netherlands with PSV Eindhoven. Bayer04.de profiles the 23-year-old new signing.
Show moreBayer 04 Leverkusen have signed the USA international Malik Tillman. The 23-year-old attacking midfielder joins the Werkself from Dutch champions PSV Eindhoven. Tillman, with German roots and born in Nuremberg, has a contract at Leverkusen to 30 June 2030. He scored 16 goals and provided five assists in 34 games for PSV last season. Three of those goals and two assists were in six matches in the UEFA Champions League.
Show moreThe second friendly and the first goal for the Bayer 04 Women: The Werkself just missed out on their first win in the preseason away to top-flight Dutch side PEC Zwolle. The team led by coach Roberto Pätzold drew 1-1 on Friday afternoon in Wezep. As with the friendly against TSG Hoffenheim (0-2) a number of first-team players were absent. The coach once again shared out time on the pitch for the 20-player squad. The goal of the match was scored by summer signing Vanessa Fudalla (67').
Show more