Today's match brings together the team with the best home record against the side with the current best away record. While BVB are unbeaten at home in the league for the last eleven games and are top of the home form table, the Werkself are on a run of 24 Bundesliga away games unbeaten having completed 2024 without a single league defeat on the road.
BVB are on another long run. Since 2004, Borussia Dortmund are unbeaten both in the first Bundesliga match of a new year (15 wins, five draws) as well as in Friday home games (30 wins, nine draws). Both are current records in the history of the Bundesliga.
With a 3-1 victory away to VfL Wolfsburg in the final game of last year, the team under head coach Nuri Sahin picked up another three important points before the winter break as they moved up to sixth in the table to keep in touching distance with the Champions League spots. It was the first away win of the season. With room for improvement away from home contrasting with strength on their own turf there is a lack of consistency overall in the BVB performances. Nuri Sahin said: "We've had too many ups and downs. I expect me and my team to be more consistent." Further information on Borussia Dortmund can be found in our lowdown on the next opponents.
The Black and Reds can look forward to strong support in the first competitive match in the new calendar year. 8,000 supporters will fill the away section at the clash with BVB. The Bayer 04 Fan Liaison team have compiled key information for the away game in Dortmund for the travelling Leverkusen support. HERE is the fan information.
There will be a minute's silence before the kick-off at tonight’s top match for the long-standing BVB keeper and former goalkeeping coach Wolfgang 'Teddy' de Beer. The former football player passed away suddenly and unexpectedly at the age of 60 on 30 December. The club legend won nine trophies with BVB – as a goalkeeper, reserve keeper and goalkeeping coach.
The German Football Association (DFB) has appointed Tobias Stieler as the referee for the opening fixture on Bundesliga Matchday 16. The 43-year-old referee has previously been in charge of 30 games involving the Werkself (24 wins, three draws, three defeats). Stieler's assistant referees are Christof Günsch and Frederick Assmuth with Robert Schröder in action as the VAR official.
The match will be broadcast live on free TV by Sat. 1 as well as by Sky on pay TV. As ever, supporters unable to be at the match can follow the game on Werkself Radio. The audio broadcast starts 30 minutes before kick-off with commentary provided by Niko Hartmann and Cedric Pick. In addition, the live text update service will keep fans up-to-date. Both Werkself Radio and the live text update service are available at bayer04.de and on the Bayer 04 app.
A bitter end to the fifth showdown of the 2025/26 VBL Club Championship as the #B04eSports team failed to take any points in the three remaining matches of the preliminary online round of the fifth and final showdown, missing out on the offline round. They can no longer take points in the overall table. Bayer 04 slipped out on the top eight, so direct participation in the final event for the German Club Championship is no longer possible, with Bayer 04 having to contest the play-offs.
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With the much-celebrated 2-1 derby win against 1. FC Köln, the Bayer 04 Women underlined their credentials as one of the top teams in the Bundesliga. Anyone wishing to support the Werkself in the stadium in the race for third place can now purchase tickets for the home match against FC Carl Zeiss Jena. Tickets are also still available for the upcoming clash against TSG Hoffenheim at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium on Sunday, 22 February. The latest information at a glance.
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Let's give it our all one more time! Today, Tuesday 17 February (live on the VBL Twitch channel from 18:00 CET), the #B04eSports team play the remaining three preliminary round matches of the fifth and final showdown of the VBL Club Championship 2025/26. The Leverkusen console pros go up against 1. FC Nürnberg, 1. FC Magdeburg and Bayern Munich, aiming to secure their place in the offline knockout round and pick up valuable points for the overall table and the battle to get into the final event for the German Club Championship. The lowdown on our next opponents.
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So here we go again: Four weeks after the 2-0 home win in the league phase of the UEFA Champions League, Olympiacos host the Werkself at the Stadio Georgios Karaiskakis this Wednesday, 18 February (kick-off: 21:00 CET - live on Werkself Radio) for the second encounter in a short space of time. It's the first leg of the knockout play-offs, and it's likely to be another high-intensity clash in a fiery atmosphere.
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The Werkself impressed in the 4-0 home win over FC St. Pauli with a performance that pleased head coach Kasper Hjulmand that had previously being missing and which he now wants to "use as a boost". Defenders Jarell Quansah and Edmond Tapsoba in particular once again stood firm at the back and scored at the other end - the latter now has the most goal involvements by a centre-back in the top five leagues. However, the Bayer 04 players are already looking forward to the forthcoming fixtures with a hunger for success and optimism. The Werkself review of the game on Carnival Saturday.
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