The Werkself will have to be on their toes if they are going to extend their run of wins in the Bundesliga. "Mainz have a team full of footballing ability. They make their opponents fight all the way. Players like John Cordoba and Yoshinori Muto are top strikers. They play with a lot of intelligence so we'll have to be on our guard," explained the coach.
Previous meeting as warning
FSV Mainz 05 have lost their last six away games in the Bundesliga. However, that fact does not diminish the difficulty of the challenge as Roger Schmidt explained: "We saw in the previous meeting how strong Mainz are on the break if we’re not tight enough at the back. We had to produce a great second half to turn the game round. We can learn a lot from the match earlier in the season."
Schmidt assessed the performance of his players against Atlético Madrid in the Champions League as, "not at all disappointing. We didn't produce a perfect performance and, at this level, you get punished by one of the top European teams. The match was complicated but we never lost our courage. We want to use this experience to secure a third league win in succession at Mainz."
There is not much change in availability since Tuesday night. Hakan Calhanoglu is still suspended. Jonathan Tah is still injured. Danny da Costa also misses out. Schmidt said: "Danny got a kick on the toe." The prospects are "positive" for Lars Bender. Schmidt: "It's looking good. But it's still unclear whether he can play tomorrow. I'll wait for the final pre-match training session and then I'll talk to him." Wendell, who picked up a third yellow card against Augsburg last week, will have to watch the match from the stands.
Bayer 04 expect a crowd of 27,000, including 1,000 supporters from Mainz. Tickets will be available on the day.
Tickets are on sale for the last two Bayer 04 Women's team home games in 2025. Fans can now purchase tickets for the matches at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium against RB Leipzig and the final fixture of the year in the Rückrunde opener against German champions Bayern Munich. The latest information at a glance.
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Eliminated ahead of the offline round: On Tuesday, 18 November, the Leverkusen console pros played the two remaining matches in the online preliminary round of showdown two. After picking up six points from the first four games last week, the #B04eSports team bagged another three in the two final duels - but it wasn't enough. The Leverkusen team missed out on a place in the offline knockout round, which will take place in this second showdown on 23 November in Frankfurt am Main.
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The VBL Club Championship by WOW 2025/26 continues today, Tuesday 18 November, with the last two of the six online preliminary round matches in the second showdown. Starting at 18:00 CET, Bayer 04 face Karlsruher SC, followed by Borussia Mönchengladbach at 19:00 CET. The games will be streamed live on the Bayer 04 app and on the club Twitch channel. The lowdown on our next opponents.
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Bayer 04 has presented the groups on the Monheim council with extensively revised proposals for the planned Campus. As part of constructive discussions, the club presented a plan to the CDU, SPD, Greens, FDP, PETO and the Left Party that envisages a one-third reduction in the area of the site on Alfred-Nobel-Strasse. The distance to neighbours will be increased by almost 60 percent. The green corridor will therefore be significantly larger than previously planned. Here are the main changes.
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A disappointing Sunday afternoon in the Hanseatic city: The Bayer 04 Women missed out on a place in the DFB Pokal quarter-finals after a penalty shoot-out at Hamburger SV. After more than 120 minutes of play, coach Roberto Pätzold's team lost 4-2 on penalties to the Bundesliga newcomers in front of 3,993 spectators at the Volksparkstadion. Julia Mickenhagen's brilliant strike to level at 1-1 on 73 minutes was not enough for the Werkself in this tie. The Bayer Leverkusen Women’s team reached quarter-finals in both of the previous two seasons.
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