There's something about playing TSG Hoffenheim in the first home game of the season. This will be the third time Bayer 04 have kicked off their home campaign against Hoffenheim. The first time was on 15 August 2009, which was a special date in the Leverkusen club's history. The match against TSG was the opening fixture at the rebuilt BayArena. And it was also a day of celebration for the Werkself pros and supporters alike: Away from the unpopular temporary home in Düsseldorf after a period of six months and finally back in familiar surroundings.
The Bayer 04 team, playing Hoffenheim in front 28,000 fans, were first out of the blocks and were clearly determined not to allow the visitors to spoil the opening party. However, patience was a definite virtue on that day. After the team, under coach Jupp Heynckes, had squandered a number of chances from Tranquillo Barnetta, Sami Hyypiä and Stefan Kießling, the only goal of the game was scored by Kießling on 67 minutes: Renato Augusto put the ball in from the right, it was backheeled to his fellow striker by Eren Derdiyok for a tap-in from close range.
The second time Bayer 04 met TSG in the first home game of the season was the opening fixture in the 2015/16 season. The Werkself came out on top again with Kießling playing a decisive role. Just before the break, the goal-getter scored to level at 1-1 after the TSG keeper Oliver Baumann parried a shot from Wendell. 'Kies' made his name as a bogeyman for the team from the Kraichgau and he lived up to that with his tenth goal against TSG. Steven Zuber had given Hoffenheim the lead on five minutes – the first goal conceded at home by the Werkself in 874 minutes after Bernd Leno had kept so many clean sheets at the BayArena. Julian Brandt, off the subs bench for just seven minutes, scored the deserved winner to make it 2-1 on 71 minutes after a counter-attack ending with an assist from Admir Mehmedi.
Bayer 04 and Hoffenheim face each other on Saturday for the third time in the opening Bundesliga fixture at Leverkusen. From a Werkself point of view, it will be good if the record is maintained.
Four Bayer 04 players are in action at the 35th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations being played in Morocco from 21 December to 18 January 2026: Eliesse Ben Seghir for the hosts, Edmond Tapsoba with Burkina Faso, Ibrahim Maza for Algeria and Christian Kofane with Cameroon. Updates on the AFCON matches involving Werkself players...
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After being nominated for the Bundesliga Goal of the Year 2025, Martin Terrier's wonderful strike for the opener against FC Köln is now also up for selection for the ARD Sportschau Goal of the Month award for December 2025. Bayer 04 fans have until 19:00 CET on 10 January to vote for the French forward.
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After a break of almost two weeks, the Bayer 04 Women begin preparing for games in 2026 on Sunday. Bayer04.de provides an overview of the dates at the start of the second half of the season.
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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 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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