The Werkself are looking to take the next step in the race for Europe against the Royal Blues. "That was a very, very important win for us – also in terms of qualification for the Europa League. Everything is still really tight," said Werkself striker Kevin Volland in the Mixed Zone after the game. And Lukas Hradecky, who celebrated his 50th Bundesliga win against Frankfurt, calls for similarly courageous performances from the Werkself in the run-in: "We have to play the last two games at the same level – and then hopefully that will be enough to achieve the magical fourth spot." So the target is clear for the next 14 days. In that spirit, the Werkself gathered again on Monday morning at the BayArena – after a team meeting, the starting eleven from the Frankfurt game completed a regeneration session at the Werkstatt while the players on the bench including Paulinho and Mitchell Weiser completed a session on the training ground.
The Werkself have the day off tomorrow before the final open training session of the week on Wednesday (10.30 CET) ahead of the Schalke game at the weekend.
The majority of the media are agreed – Charles Aránguiz is the player of matchday 32. The Werkself number 20 provided the assists for the first two goals (assists number five and six for him in the current campaign) and he scored the goal to make it 4-1 at the end of an impressive solo run (second goal of the season). In addition, the Chilean won 65 per cent of his challenges and had the most possession of all the players on the pitch. Kicker, Sportschau and bundesliga.de recognised this performance with a place in the team of the week. There was a black and red dominance in the top teams. And the performances of Lucas Alario (kicker, Sportschau, bundesliga.de), Jonathan Tah, Julian Brandt, Kai Havertz (kicker, Sportschau) plus Sven Bender and Julian Baumgartlinger (both in kicker) also impressed the media.
Next weekend (10 to 12 May) Bayer 04 celebrate ‘40 years of the Bundesliga under the Bayer cross’ – commemorating the date of promotion to the Bundesliga on 13 May 1979, the Werkself have organised a three-day black and red event. It all kicks off on Friday night (19.04 CET, '19nullvier' Lounge at the BayArena) with the 'Day of Promotion' where many of the heroes of 1979 will mingle with the guests. The next day (1530 CET) brings the Bundesliga home game against Schalke 04 before celebrations continue on Sunday (from 10.00 CET) with a 'Day of Tradition' that includes a match involving the Bundesliga All-Stars at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium. The biggest Bayer 04 legends from the last four decades will be there to mark this anniversary – Jürgen Gelsdorf, Falko Götz, Bum-Kun Cha, Ulf Kirsten, Christoph Daum, Bernd Schneider, Erik Meijer, Paolo Sergio, Zé Roberto and Emerson have all confirmed. A limited number of tickets are available for the weekend events.
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.
Show more
Bayer 04’s eight opponents in the group stage of the 2026/27 UEFA Europa League have been confirmed. At the draw on Friday 28 August held at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco, the Werkself were drawn against two opponents from each of the four pots. There are a total of four home and four away matches. Read on for details of opponents and fixture dates.
Show more
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.
Show more
Werkself TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04's 2-3 loss at SV 07 Elversberg on Matchday 1 of the 2026/27 Bundesliga season...
Show more
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.
Show more
