Before the game, Heiko Herrlich announced he was picking two different sides for the friendlies against Fürth and Münster to give all his players the chance to get time on the pitch. With the exception of second choice keeper Niklas Lomb, the team against the second division club included five U19 players on the bench in Jakub Bednarczyk, Hajdar Shala, Sam Schreck, Güven Yalcin and Atakan Akkaynak. Most of the action on the pitch took place in the Fürth half with Bayer 04 clearly on top – and the opener soon followed. With six minutes on the clock, a shot from Kevin Volland was blocked but Dominik Kohr was on hand to put the ball in the back of the net. After that, the goalscorer and Kai Havertz missed a number of decent chances to extend the lead but the Werkself were not sharp enough in converting those goalscoring opportunities. That failed to impress the coach. In the middle of the first half, Heiko Herrlich's voice was clearly to be heard throughout the Haberland Stadium as he shouted, "Blimey, put the ball in the net!"
Otherwise, the hosts looked impressive in the first outing of the New Year as they were alert in moving back and winning the ball, they passed accurately and patiently through their ranks and were able to up the tempo as required. After the restart, Kevin Volland and Admir Mehmedi missed good chances before Julian Brandt finally doubled the lead from close range on 66 minutes. Volland provided the assist. Mehmedi missed a final great chance to extend the winning margin from a few yards out just before the final whistle. Almost immediately, the visitors from Fürth netted a leveller through Cigerci in the final minute to make the score 2-1 with Bernd Leno unable to save a well-placed shot into the far corner. With the exception of one change - Jakub Bednarczyk replaced skipper Lars Bender with 15 minutes to play - Heiko Herrlich allowed all his players to go the full distance.
Bayer 04: Leno – Tah, S. Bender, Retsos – L. Bender (Bednarczyk 76’), Kohr, Baumgartlinger, Mehmedi – Havertz, Volland, Brandt
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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