Bayer 04 is holding its next Members' Matchday as part of the game against Heidenheim. Fans of all ages can look forward to entertaining activities such as multiball, Bolzbox and photo boxes, bouncy castles and gaming stations in the event areas around the BayArena. Throughout the event, Bayer 04 members can enjoy discounts on jerseys and children's items during a four-day promotional period. Anyone who signs up for membership during this time will receive a stylish sweatshirt for free.
The Löwenclub is also celebrating its 30th anniversary. To mark the occasion, the new patron of the youngest Werkself fans will be presented before the match against Heidenheim.
Bayer 04 fans with a ticket for the match against Heidenheim can also take advantage of ticket discounts for fixtures involving the other teams from the Bayer sports family. For them, admission to the BayerVolleys match tomorrow evening at 20:00 CET and the Werkselfen (handball) match on Sunday at 16:00 CET costs only €5 at the box office. Both matches will take place at the Ostermann Arena.
The Werkself are yet to drop points against Heidenheim in the Bundesliga. Last season's encounters were particularly thrilling, with Patrik Schick scoring a hat-trick as Bayer 04 came from 2-0 down to win 5-2 at home. In the away fixture, Emiliano Buendía's stoppage-time strike earned the points for the Black-and-Reds. Referee Bastian Dankert is also a good omen for the preservation of that perfect Bundesliga record against FCH, as he was in charge for the aforementioned 5-2 success a year ago. What's more, it's over two and a half years since the Werkself lost two league matches in a row.
It's certainly fair to expect that Bayer 04 will have most of the control of the game. The hosts, who have played the second-most passes and have the second-best pass completion in the German top flight, meet a Heidenheim side who are second-from-bottom in both those statistics. Kasper Hjulmand's men have also the spent the second-highest amount of time in front in matches this season, the visitors the least.
After surviving relegation by the skin of their teeth, Heidenheim are struggling again this season. The team from the town on the river Brenz are currently bottom of the table after six defeats, two draws and just one win from the first nine matches. The recent 1-1 draw against Eintracht Frankfurt should give long-serving coach Frank Schmidt and his team a boost, though, with the bottom half of the table still very tight. FCH can also draw hope from the fact that their injury problems in attack are easing with the return of Marvin Pieringer, Mathias Honsak and Budu Zivzivadze. Alongside top goalscorer Stefan Schimmer (two goals), the trio's qualities going forward are desperately needed to make up for the leaky defence (17 goals conceded). Against Frankfurt, Heidenheim did at least manage to get back to their battling qualities for the first time in a while. Coach Schmidt has demanded "more courage and determination" as he knows: "If we don't make it an exciting season, then we'll be relegated." Read more about FCH in our opposition analysis.
Bayer 04 CEO Fernando Carro and Rüdiger Vollborn, the Werkself's honorary captain and record appearance maker, will honour 12 fan clubs pitchside for their loyalty on behalf of the club. The fan clubs are being recognised for 30, 35 or 40 years of commitment. Here's to many more successful seasons together!
Referee Dankert will be assisted by René Rohde and Stefan Lupp on the sidelines. Lukas Benen is fourth official and Sascha Stegemann the video assistant.
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After falling behind early on, Bayer 04 took control of the game against a combative and disciplined FC Augsburg on Saturday afternoon. However, they lacked the necessary precision in finishing and hit the post and crossbar three times. After the game, coach Kasper Hjulmand said he wanted to get back to the "right philosophy" of previous matches with three games left in 2025. The Werkself review.
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