Odilon Kossounou and Ivory Coast take on Guinea-Bissau in the opening game on Saturday night. The hosts then face Nigeria on 18 January, when Kossounou was set to come up against Werkself teammate Victor Boniface until the striker suffered an injury during preparations for the tournament, forcing him to return to Germany early. The Ivorians' third and final fixture in Group A is against Equatorial Guinea on 22 January.
Meanwhile, Edmond Tapsoba and Burkina Faso play their first match against Mauritiana in Group D on 16 January. That's followed by the clash with Algeria on 20 January, before Angola await on 23 January.
Then on 17 January, the third Bayer 04 player will get started in the tournament as Amine Adli and Morocco face Tanzania in Group F. In their second group game, the World Cup semi-finalists meet DR Congo on 21 January, before concluding the group stage against Zambia three days later. For Adli, who switched allegiance to Morocco in autumn of last year having represented France at youth level, the Africa Cup of Nations is the first major international tournament of his career. For Kossounou and Tapsoba it's their second appearance at AFCON.
The round of 16 kicks off three days after the group stage, from 27 to 30 January. The quarter-finals will be played on 2 and 3 February, with the two semis taking place on 7 February. Following the third-place playoff on 10 February, the final will be held the next day at 21:00 CET.
THE GROUP MATCHES AT A GLANCE (all times CET)
Odilon Kossounou (Ivory Coast/Group A):
13.01, 21:00: Ivory Coast v Guinea-Bissau
18.01, 18:00: Ivory Coast v Nigeria
22.01, 18:00: Ivory Coast v Equatorial Guinea
Edmond Tapsoba (Burkina Faso/Group D):
16.01, 15:00: Burkina Faso v Mauritiana
20.01, 15:00: Algeria v Burkina Faso
23.01, 21:00: Angola v Burkina Faso
Amine Adli (Morocco/Group F):
17.01, 18:00: Morocco v Tanzania
21.01, 15:00: Morocco v DR Congo
24.01, 21:00: Zambia v Morocco
Bayer 04 Leverkusen will have to manage without the two strikers in the immediate future. Caroline Kehrer suffered a torn ligament in her right knee and Amy Wrigge tore her cruciate ligament.
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The #B04eSports players now have the next chance to win a trophy. After their elimination in the quarter-finals of the VBL Club Championship Final 2025/26, the German club championship, Marc and Sean Landwehr will compete with seven other teams in the finals of the DFB-ePokal 2026 with prize money totalling €65,000. The "highly motivated" Leverkusen team will face the defending champions FOKUS with well-known influencer Elias ‘EliasN97’ Nerlich in the quarter-finals in Frankfurt on Friday, 20 March (from 18:15 CET). The semi-finals and final will be played on Saturday, 21 March.
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Bayer 04 host Bayern Munich in the semi-finals of the 2025/26 DFB Pokal. The tie will be played on Wednesday, 22 April 2026, at the BayArena with the kick-off at 20:45 CEST. Information on ticket sales.
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Bayer 04 have the chance to reach the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League for the third time ever and the first in 14 years at Arsenal on Tuesday night (kick-off 21:00 CEST/20:00 local time). To do that, the Werkself not only require a strong performance like in the first leg, but also full concentration until the very last minute, as the Premier League leaders like to score late - as they did at the BayArena last week. Here's the Matchday News.
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A special award for special social commitment. At this year's ceremony for the Sepp Herberger Awards in Wolfsburg on Monday night, the DFB Sepp Herberger Foundation recognised Bayer 04 in the social rehabilitation category. The Bundesliga club received the prize, together with €12,000, for its great service to inmates, particularly in the Wuppertal-Ronsdorf prison.
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