This is the 25th time the Werkself will face Augsburg in the Bundesliga. The head-to-head record is very much in favour of the Black and Reds. Augsburg’s average points haul against Bayer 04 is their second-worst against any opponent in the top flight. However, the Bavarians won both encounters last season, which were in fact their first two victories over Leverkusen in the Bundesliga.
Augsburg sit bottom of the Bundesliga table this season for possession (41.2%) and also play on average the fewest passes per game (366). The Werkself are top in terms of both passes per 90 minutes (673) and most passes completed per game (596), while Xabi Alonso’s men rank second for possession (60.7%).
The Werkself will enjoy plenty of support in their opening game of the year with 2,300 Leverkusen fans making the journey to Bavaria to cheer on Alonso’s side. That total is over three times more than the club’s previous highest number of supporters for a game in Augsburg (647 last season).
For those supporters in attendance, the Bayer 04 Fan Liaison team has summarised everything you need to know about today’s game in Augsburg HERE, including information on how to get there and who to speak to if required.
In honour of the recently deceased Franz Beckenbauer, a minute’s silence will be held at all football matches across Germany this weekend, as well as in the DFB-Pokal, which the Kaiser won four times as a player. The German football legend, who won the World Cup as a player (1974) and manager (1990), passed away last Sunday at the age of 78.
Augsburg have enjoyed a big improvement since Jess Thorup took over as coach in October. The Bavarians had only five points from their first seven games under Enrico Maaßen and had also been knocked out of the cup in the first round by third division Unterhaching. Augsburg remained unbeaten in the Dane’s first six games at the helm, earning 12 of a possible 18 points to climb from 15th to ninth in the table. They had a slight dip at the end of the year with only one point from their final three matches, with the defeats at Werder Bremen (2-0) and VfB Stuttgart (3-0) the first under Thorup’s watch. Augsburg got back to winning ways with a 1-0 friendly triumph over Hoffenheim last week. Although it counted for nothing, it was the team’s first clean sheet of this season. They are yet to manage that in a competitive fixture in 2023/24. You can find out more about today’s opponents in our profile piece.
The German FA (DFB) have appointed Sven Jablonski as today’s referee. The 33-year-old has overseen 12 Werkself fixtures across all competitions before, with eight wins, one draw and three defeats. His assistants are Lasse Koslowski and Dominik Schaal. The VAR is Daniel Siebert.
As usual, Werkself Radio is available for anybody unable to be at today's game. The audio broadcast in German begins 30 minutes before kick-off. 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 on bayer04.de and in the Bayer 04 app.
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.
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Kasper Hjulmand has led the Werkself back to winning ways and is back in the knockout phase of the UEFA Champions League with Bayer 04 after the 3-0 win against Villarreal on Wednesday evening. In an interview with the Werkself magazine at the BayArena in the team meeting room, directly opposite the dressing room, he provided some special insights for the current issue, which was published in January. A conversation with the 53-year-old coach about values, attitudes and personal experiences as well as interests outside of football.
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The thrilling 3-1 win for Bayer 04 against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Hinrunde is a fond memory for Alejandro Grimaldo, with his brace from free kicks, and coach Kasper Hjulmand, who was in the dugout under the Cross for the first time. Now comes the return fixture in the metropolis on the River Main and after going out of the DFB Pokal and the Champions League, the full focus at Eintracht, currently managed by two interim coaches, is now on the Bundesliga. For their part, the Werkself will do everything in their power to continue the longest winning run against a Bundesliga club. The matchday news.
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Bayer 04 have ended Artem Stepanov’s loan deal at Nürnberg and agreed a new loan to Utrecht in the Netherlands. The Ukrainian striker did not play as much as hoped for at the Bundesliga 2 club and will now continue his development in the Eredivisie for the rest of 2025/26.
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The draw for the knockout play-offs of the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League was made on Friday, 30 January and saw Bayer 04 paired with Olympiacos. It’s a reunion with the Greek side following the Werkself’s 2-0 loss in Athens on Matchday 7 of the league phase.
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