The Werkself have only won one of the last five Bundesliga matches against SC Freiburg (2-1 at home in May 2022) and last term they did not beat Freiburg in either league fixture (one draw, one defeat) for the first time since 2016/2017. Bayer 04 have not lost three games in succession against Freiburg in this millennium.
SCF have never won away to a top-of-the-table team (three draws, 21 defeats) – the last 15 visits to league leaders all ended in defeat and the draw came in April 2004 (1-1 at Werder Bremen).
The BayArena is again sold out for the home game against Freiburg. Every previous Bundesliga home game this term has seen all the tickets for the home sections taken up.
And Bayer 04 fans await a special home matchday as it is the first district matchday. This has involved numerous activities for the people from the Leverkusen district of Opladen over the past days and weeks. Today there is a morning get-together at the Zwieback bar in Opladen. Fans from Opladen can watch the clash with Freiburg together in Blocks A4 and A5.
The club will be present in different areas of Leverkusen over the coming months as part of the new Bayer 04 campaign of district matchdays. The game against Freiburg is one of six of these special matchdays this season.
Good news for all passengers on the ÖPNV network coming from Opladen, Cologne, Düsseldorf or wherever: Leverkusen Mitte station is back in action after a long period reconstruction. That will again make it easier for Bayer 04 fans to get to and from the stadium. Albeit the station is not accessible for everybody. Alternatively you can travel on S-Bahn 6 from Cologne/Düsseldorf to Chempark and then take a shuttle bus to the BayArena. All buses on this route take wheelchairs.
SC Freiburg also played their third group match in the Europa League on Thursday. And, like the Werkself, the team under coach Christian Streich also clocked up a win. SCF initially found it hard going in the 3-1 victory at Serbian club Backa Topola and they went into half-time a goal down. They upped their game after the restart. Above all thanks to Vincenzo Grifo. The German-Italian once again turned out to be the match winner with his hat-trick. But Streich was also happy with the performance of his whole team in the second half: "We have very good lads in terms of character who are able to be critical. I'm very happy we turned the game around." Further information on Freiburg can be found in our lowdown on the next opponents.
Anyone wanting to read key information before the game should take a look at the new Werkself Live. The matchday programme, offering the most important facts and stats on the game in compact form, is available at the BayArena. Alternatively it is available free online. Click HERE for the e-paper.
The German Football Association (DFB) has appointed Daniel Siebert as the match referee. The 39-year-old has previously been in charge of 21 games involving the Werkself (eight wins, five draws, eight defeats). His assistants on the touchline are Jan Seidel and Lasse Koslowski and Benjamin Cortus is in action is the VAR.
As usual, Werkself Radio is available for anybody unable to be at today's game. The audio broadcast begins 30 minutes before kick-off with commentary provided by Niko Hartmann and Cedric Pick. In addition, the live text update service will keep you up-to-date to ensure you don't miss any of the key match action. Both Werkself Radio and the live text update service are available at bayer04.de and on the Bayer 04 app.
For the third time in a row, the Leverkusen eSports players have made it through to the final round of the VBL Club Championship. From 7 to 8 March, they will compete for the German Club Championship at XPERION in Hamburg. At the start of the final round, they face Hamburger SV in the Round of 16. The match starts at 19:30 CET on Saturday, 7 March and will be broadcast live on the VBL Twitch channel. The eSports preview.
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"We played with pace and patience today. That was the decisive factor," said managing director sport Simon Rolfes following the 1-0 win at Hamburger SV in the rearranged match on Wednesday night. Although the Werkself still had room for improvement in terms of capitalising on their chances against the Red Shorts, they produced a different display to last time out and were rewarded for a concentrated performance over 90 minutes. The Werkself review features reaction to the game, including from a happy starting XI debutant, as well as the match stats.
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Werkself TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04's 1-0 win in rearranged match at Hamburger SV on Matchday 17 of the 2025/26 Bundesliga season...
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The second attempt was a successful one: the Werkself won 1-0 at Hamburger SV in the rearranged Bundesliga Matchday 17 encounter. Head coach Kasper Hjulmand's side dominated play from the start and eventually scored the winning goal through Christian Kofane in the 73rd minute.
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