Compared with the 2-2 draw against Newcastle United in midweek, coach Kasper Hjulmand made two changes to his starting line-up: Jonas Hofmann and Christian Kofane came in for Alejandro Grimaldo and Patrik Schick, who were not in the matchday squad due to injury.
Bayer 04 took control right at the start of the game and launched their first attacks with passes up top to Kofane. The striker had the first good effort on goal on nine minutes, but was denied by the FC Köln keeper Marvin Schwäbe. Malik Tillman's attempt on 18 minutes went just wide of the target. Shortly after that, Luca Waldschmidt narrowly missed a shot on the slide from a Said El Mala's cross (21’). Waldschmidt tried again seven minutes later with a powerful shot from the right but Mark Flekken made the save (28'). The best chance for Bayer 04 came on 34 minutes for Robert Andrich from an Aleix Garcia corner (34'). Despite Bayer 04 having a clear majority of chances, the two teams went into half-time with a 0-0 scoreline.
The second half began with another great chance for Bayer 04: Tillman stole the ball from Sebastian Sebulonsen in the build-up and ran unchallenged towards Schwäbe. However, the Leverkusen player's shot sailed over the bar (48'). Ibrahim Maza then tried his luck from a tight angle, but the FC Köln keeper saved again (50'). The same happened a little later when Kofane tried to score with a header (55').
Bayer 04 continued to exert more pressure. Nevertheless, Hjulmand rotated his forwards brining on Nathan Tella and Martin Terrier for Hofmann and Ernest Poku (62'). And the Werkself coach proved to have the Midas touch: Terrier gave the Werkself a well-deserved 1-0 lead four minutes after coming on as a substitute with an inspired scorpion shot from Arthur's cross (66') - a wonder goal from the Frenchman. And more was to follow with captain Andrich doubling the lead at 2-0 with a powerful header from a Garcia corner. More subs came on - Loïc Badé and Alejo Sarco for Garcia and Kofane (76') and later Jeanuel Belocian for Tillman (86') - as the Werkself went on to secure a well-deserved home win.
The final match of the calendar year is next Saturday, 20 December (kick-off: 18:30 CET), when the Werkself are way to RB Leipzig. 2026 kicks off on 10 January at 18:30 CET with a home game against VfB Stuttgart.
Match stats:
Bayer 04: Flekken - Quansah, Andrich, Tapsoba - Arthur, Maza, Garcia (Badé 76’), Poku (Tella 62’) - Hofmann (Terrier 62’), Tillman (Belocian 86’) - Kofane (Sarco 76’)
FC Köln: Schwäbe - Sebulonsen, Martel (Johannesson 80’), van den Berg - Thielemann, Huseinbasic (Özkacar 46’), Krauß, Kaminski - Waldschmidt (Maina 46’), El Mala (Lund 72’), Bülter (Ache 46’)
Goals: 1-0 Terrier (66'), 2-0 Andrich (72')
Yellow cards: Arthur, Quansah - Martel
Referee: Harm Osmers (Hanover)
Attendance: 30,210 (sold out) at the BayArena
Werkself-TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04 Women's 0-1 loss at Bayern Munich in the round of 16 of the women's DFB-Pokal 2026/27
Show more
Rüdiger Vollborn has been at the club for 40 years, he holds the record number of Bundesliga appearances for the club (401) and is the only Bayer 04 player to have won both the UEFA Cup (1988) and the DFB Pokal (1993). And the Berliner stayed with the Werkself after ending his impressive playing career working as a goalkeeping coach for the following nine years. Vollborn now works under the Bayer Cross as a fan liaison officer and club archivist. Since February 2021, the personal Black and Red lexicon takes Werkself fans under the heading of 'Rudi recounts...' on a brief trip through the history of Bayer 04 every month…
Show more
Having previously recorded six consecutive home wins across all competitions, Bayer 04 suffered their first home defeat of 2026/27 as they went down 4-2 to VfB Stuttgart in the Bundesliga on Matchday 8. The visitors capitalised on their first two chances to score, with Ermedin Demirovic and Jamie Leweling finding the net in the first half. Although Patrik Schick got a goal back in the first half, Bilal El Khannouss and Demirovic again added further goals for Stuttgart. Bayer 04 didn’t give up, but Ibrahim Maza’s goal proved little more than a consolation.
Show more
Fans at the BayArena got to enjoy a spectacle on Wednesday as the Werkself came from behind to beat Nürnberg 5-2 in the DFB Pokal. Now with the sixth home game of the season, can Bayer 04 maintain their perfect record in Leverkusen as VfB Stuttgart come to town in the Bundesliga on Saturday (15:30 CET)? The visitors have had issues domestically this term, sitting in 15th place, although they have had much better results in the UEFA Champions League. Here’s all you need to know ahead of the Matchday 8 encounter…
Show more
The Bayern Munich women’s football team are unbeaten in all domestic competitions in the last 62 matches. On Sunday (15:00 CET), the Bayer 04 women’s team will make their next attempt to end the holders unbeaten run in the DFB Pokal Round of 16 tie. For coach Roberto Pätzold, there are a number of factors that give the Werkself cause for optimism despite the high-calibre opposition.
Show more
