Bayern come to Leverkusen as league leaders with a comfortable eleven-point lead and the Werkself are unbeaten in twelve games in the Bundesliga (and 14 in all competitions): So everything points to an exciting encounter with neither side lacking in confidence. But there will also be no lack of respect for the opposition. “Bayern have the best attack you can imagine and they are playing with much more flair since the change of coaches. But we don’t want to sit back but instead be brave,” said Jonathan Tah in an interview with Kicker. Bayern’s Franck Ribery sees Bayer 04 as follows: “They’re a good team with good players and it’s always been difficult there – but we are Bayern Munich.”
Bayer 04 are unbeaten in the last nine Bundesliga games at the BayArena with four wins and five draws. The Werkself have not lost any of the last four league games at home against Bayern with one win and three draws. The last two meetings at Leverkusen ended goalless. Rudi Völler is absolutely right when he says: “Bayern don’t have a monopoly of wins at the BayArena as we’ve often demonstrated.” And the sporting director set out the maxim for Friday night: “We want to cause them problems again this time.”
The clash between the Werkself and the record champions has attracted interest worldwide with the match being broadcast live in 190 countries. The huge media interest is accompanied by a large number of VIPs expected at the BayArena tonight: From the DFB come Thomas Schneider and Marcus Sorg, the two assistants to Germany coach Joachim Löw. And Franco Foda, DFB Cup winner with Bayer 04 in 1993 and now the Austria coach, will also be the stands to have a look at his international defenders Julian Baumgartlinger and David Alaba. The two Bayer 04 honorary captains Bernd Schneider and Ulf Kirsten plus former Werkself players Marko Babic, Falko Götz and Patrick Helmes will also be at the game.
If you were to put a team together of players who have appeared for Bayer 04 and Bayern then you could produce an impressive line-up with big-name players: Michael Ballack, Zé Roberto, Toni Kroos, Jörg Butt, Lucio, Jorginho, Paulo Sergio, Emre Can, Alois Reinhardt, Robert Kovac, Niko Kovac, Landon Donovan, Markus Münch, Jürgen Röber, Helmut Winklhofer and current players Arturo Vidal and Tom Starke plus the coaches Jupp Heynckes and Peter Hermann.
Ahead of the kick-off against Bayern Munich it will be time to say farewell to a man who has been at Bayer 04 for almost four decades: At the end of last year, Klaus Zöller, supplies manager at the Werkself, went into well-deserved retirement. The young at heart 65-year-old, who started work as the caretaker at Bismarckstraße in 1980 before going on to be the groundsman and kit man for generations of players in Black and Red, will receive a suitable farewell from CEO Michael Schade and sporting director Rudi Völler fifteen minutes before kick-off.
While the players in action against Bayern will have a recovery session at the Werkstatt in the BayArena on Saturday, the rest of the squad will have the opportunity to get some match practice in a friendly against third division Sportfreunde Lotte. Entrance to the match at 11.00 CET at the Haberland Stadium is free. The game against Lotte, currently fourteenth in the third division, will be broadcast on bayer04.de as well as Facebook – now a familiar service for all Bayer 04 fans. Later in the month there is another friendly on Tuesday 23 January against Regional League side Rot-Weiß Oberhausen.
There will not be a post-match Fan talk at the Schwadbud after the Bayern match due to time constraints as the fans would not be able to head home before midnight. Ahead of the game, Bayer 04 stalwart Gerd Kentschke and UEFA Cup winner Christian Hausmann, who impressed in the 3-0 win at Bayern at the Olympic Stadium in November 1986, will be guests at the Schwadbud.
After being nominated for the Bundesliga Goal of the Year 2025, Martin Terrier's wonderful strike for the opener against FC Köln is now also up for selection for the ARD Sportschau Goal of the Month award for December 2025. Bayer 04 fans have until 19:00 CET on 10 January to vote for the French forward.
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 as he worked 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 personalised 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
"In every ending lies a new beginning" is a well-known saying. This phrase has probably never been more apt at Bayer 04. After winning the Bundesliga in 2023/24 and finishing as runners-up in 2024/25, the summer was the most eventful ever in terms of transfers. Over ten players and the coach, including the coaching staff, left the club. A lot of the heroes of the double-winning side began a new chapter. It was the end of an era. And at the same time the beginning of a new, very exciting and promising chapter for Leverkusen. The Werkself welcomed more than a dozen new arrivals, including experienced title-winners and young talents, to build a new "foundation for a successful team capable of winning titles" under the Bayer Cross, as managing director sport Simon Rolfes put it. A new spirit, a new hunger, a new story was to be created. Bayer04.de looks back at the first few months of this story and the final act of the preseason.
Show more
43 points at the end of the last Bundesliga season were not only more than ever before for the Bayer 04 Women, but also led to a record fourth-place finish. That was followed by a Hinrunde with many more victories, but also some setbacks. In an interview with bayer04.de, sporting director Achim Feifel takes stock at the end of the year.
Show more
With their wonderful goals, Martin Terrier and Florian Wirtz are up for the Bundesliga Goal of the Year 2025. Voting for fans will run exclusively via the official Bundesliga app until Sunday, 4 January.
Show more
