The Werkself have become a real force on their travels, including in Bremen. While Bayer 04 haven’t lost an away game in the Bundesliga for two whole seasons, it’s almost nine years (seven games) since they lost at the Weserstadion. It’s also just one defeat in the last 10 meetings home or away, although that came in the most recent in March.
Werder, though, rediscovered their home comforts at the end of last season and haven’t conceded a single goal in any of their last four Bundesliga outings on their own patch.
The start of this season has been very different, though. After DFB Pokal elimination at the hands of Arminia Bielefeld, they were then beaten 4-1 at Eintracht Frankfurt in their opening Bundesliga match. “Lots of things aren’t going right,” admitted captain Marco Friedl afterwards. The Green-Whites have lost two key players in goalkeeper Michael Zetterer and striker Marvin Ducksch. Karl Hein from Arsenal and Samuel Mbangula from Juventus have arrived with the intention of filling those gaps.
An injury crisis has also compounded things, with up to seven senior players ruled out or a doubt to face Leverkusen, including Friedl and midfield general Jens Stage. It’s not an easy situation for new head coach Horst Steffen, who previously led Elversberg from the fourth tier to the verge of Bundesliga promotion in last season’s play-off. Here’s more on today’s opponents HERE.
The Werkself can once again look forward to great support in Bremen, with 3,800 fans making the trip from Leverkusen. Information for travelling fans can be found HERE.
The German FA (DFB) have appointed Dr Robin Braun to oversee this game – the fourth of his career in the Bundesliga. The 29-year-old previously took charge of the Werkself’s 3-1 win at home to Hoffenheim in February. His assistants are Florian Heft and Asmir Osmanagic. The fourth official is Richard Hempel, with Tobias Welz as VAR.
Bayer 04 host Borussia Mönchengladbach at the BayArena on matchday 12 of the 2026/27 Bundesliga season. The schedule for the game remains to be confirmed. The latest information on ticket sales.
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Bayer 04 host Eintracht Frankfurt at the BayArena on matchday 14 of the 2026/27 Bundesliga season. The schedule for the game remains to be confirmed. The latest information on ticket sales.
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Werkself-TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04 Women's 0-1 loss at Bayern Munich in the round of 16 of the women's DFB-Pokal 2026/27
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“As far as mentality and determination are concerned, we have nothing to reproach ourselves for,” Robert Andrich said up after the first home defeat for the Werkself this term. In terms of their play, too, the Black and Reds put in a respectable performance for long stretches of this intense and physical match, outperforming VfB Stuttgart in most areas. It was only in terms of efficiency in front of goal that the Swabians had the edge over the Werkself. Head coach Carles Martínez wants to learn from this so that, in future, they can “win this sort of match too”. The Werkself review.
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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 working 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 personal 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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