Tonight at 22.15 CET, Völler is a guest on the sports programme ‘100% Bundesliga’ on RTL Nitro. Together with the presenter Laura Wontorra and Nitro pundit Steffen Freund, the 59-year-old will discuss Bundesliga matchday 22 and the Europa League home game against FC Porto (Thursday, 20 February, 21.00 CET) at the studio in Cologne. The game against the four-time winners of European cup competitions will be broadcast live on RTL.
The 3-2 away win at Union Berlin was a reason for the Bayer 04 playmaker Kai Havertz to celebrate another achievement: The 20-year-old has clocked up his 50th win in his 107th Bundesliga appearance. That milestone has only been reached at a younger age by Julian Draxler (with Schalke 04 and VfL Wolfsburg) and Christian Pulisic (with Borussia Dortmund). After the game at the Alte Försterei stadium, Havertz was voted man of the match by Bayer 04 fans on Twitter with 47.9 % of the votes.
Head coach Peter Bosz had special praise for his winter signing Edmond Tapsoba (from Vitória Guimaraes) after the Union match: “Edmond did very well against Dortmund. And if you saw him against Union then you could hardly believe he’s only been with us for few weeks.” The reward, on top of the three points, was a place in the kicker Team of the Matchday.
In addition, the sports journal also named Tapsoba as their man of the match: “With his assurance in challenges, good vision and great calm in build-up play,” he was “solid from the start of the game.” The towering defender also saw more of the ball than anybody else with 108 touches over the 90 minutes.
The fine performance of the Burkina Faso international was also recognised on the ARD Sportschau programme with the winter signing credited with a “cool display” and Tapsoba was also named in their team of the matchday. Also named in the line-up: Werkself skipper Lars Bender. He covered the most ground in the game with a total of 12.3 kilometres.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen have appointed Carles Martínez Novell as the new head coach. The 42-year-old Spaniard worked for FC Toulouse in the French Ligue 1 until the end of the season. Martínez finished last term in ninth place with the club from the south of France. He will take over the Werkself on 1 July 2026 and has signed a contract to 30 June 2028. Martínez, whose contract with Toulouse expires at the end of the month, succeeds Kasper Hjulmand at Leverkusen, who is leaving the club after one season.
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Welcome to Leverkusen, Carles Martínez Novell. Bayer 04 have appointed the 42-year-old Spaniard as the new head coach on a contract to 2028. Martínez most recently worked for FC Toulouse in the French Ligue 1 until the end of the season. He previously spent four years at Barcelona's legendary academy La Masia in his home city. Bayer04.de introduces Martínez in more detail.
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Bayer 04 plans for the 2026/27 pre-season continue to take shape. The Werkself will kick off the new season in mid-July with the return to the training ground. The highlight will be the official season opener on 8 August at the BayArena, including a friendly against La Liga club Sevilla. Friendlies in Germany will take the team to neighbouring Monheim, Offenbach and Jena.
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Strengthening the Bayer 04 Leverkusen youth teams: Konstantinos Kotsifakis will join the Werkself from Bundesliga 2 club Hertha Berlin for the 2026/27 season, where he will be a permanent member of the Leverkusen U19 coaching set-up. The German-Greek will also take on an operational role in coaching the Bayer 04 Future Team. The 29-year-old was most recently head coach of the U17s at Hertha Berlin.
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Another award for the Bayer 04 head groundsman and staff: After coming top in the 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2024/25 seasons, the BayArena pitch came second in the Bundesliga Pitch of the Year ranking for the 2025/26 season. VfL Wolfsburg secured the top spot this year, with TSG Hoffenheim in third place.
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