Although the newcomers are in 13th position on 17 points in the Bundesliga ahead of matchday 15, a closer look at the season to date for the Swabian club reveals: The team coached by Hannes Wolf have picked up all but one of their points at home at the Mercedes Benz Arena. VfB have only conceded two of 17 goals on their own turf. "Stuttgart are very good at pressing at their own ground and are great at switching from defence to attack," said Heiko Herrlich. "Up to now, only FC Augsburg have managed to take a point there with a 0-0 draw. Otherwise, Stuttgart have won all their home games so far this season."
In the last two away games, VfB have only secured one draw (1-1 at Hannover 96 plus a 1-0 defeat at Werder Bremen). speaking at the pre-match press conference on Thursday morning at the Media Centre at the BayArena, Herrlich declared: "They won their last home game against Borussia Dortmund and we didn't manage to do that here." The target for his team on Friday night is clear: "Of course, we want to win. We are aware that we've dropped too many points this season. We need to keep on picking up points to secure our place at the top end of the table. So it's up to us to get a result at Stuttgart."
As in the 1-1 draw against Dortmund on Saturday, Bayer 04 are looking to focus on having a solid defence. "We did well in open play in the last game and created chances up front. That's based on working against the ball and the desire to make yourself available. We want to keep that up," said Herrlich who has high expectations of his team: "We just have to be more effective in converting our chances than we were in the first half against Dortmund."
The 45-year-old goes into the third-last away game of the year without two injured players Charles Aránguiz (muscular problem) and Vlad Yurchenko (foot) plus the suspended Wendell. Herrlich was unwilling to divulge how he will replace the full-back: "We have lots of options. Which player we use depends on whether or not we play with a back four."
The Werkself squad will head south after the final pre-match training session on Thursday afternoon. 670 Werkself supporters are expected to be at the Stuttgart ground on Friday night.
Opening opponents, derby weekends, the opponents in the season finale: This information and more will be available to Bayer 04 fans on Thursday, 2 July, when the 2026/27 Bundesliga fixture list is published.
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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 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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Bayer 04 Leverkusen have extended the contract with U19 midfielder Jonah Berghoff ahead of schedule. The Germany U18 international has signed professional terms with the club to 30 June 2030.
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Two months of preparation, five friendlies and the return of a familiar training camp location: After finishing fifth in the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga last season, the Werkself will return to training on Tuesday, 23 June. Bayer04.de outlines the key dates in the 2026 summer timetable.
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