Bayer 04 qualified for next season’s Champions League campaign a week and a half ago and now 25 teams are through to the group stage. The latest to make it on Sunday were the Russian club Locomotive Moscow (including former Germany international Benedikt Höwedes) plus, from Italy, Inter Milan and, for the first time in the club’s history, Atalanta Bergamo with their German left-back Robin Gosens. The Werkself could face any of the three teams in the group stage but up to now they definitely will not play FC Salzburg or Valencia. Those two teams are in Pot 3 along with Bayer 04.
The line-up so far is (as at 28 May 2019): Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig, Bayer 04 (all Germany), Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur (all England), Juventus, Napoli, Atalanta, Inter Milan (all Italy), Barcelona, Atlético Madrid, Real Madrid, Valencia (all Spain), Paris St. Germain, Lille OSC (both France), Zenit St. Petersburg, Lokomotiv Moscow (Russia), Benfica (Portugal), Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine), KRC Genk (Belgium), Galatasaray (Turkey) plus FC Salzburg (Austria).
If Arsenal, with former Bayer 04 goalkeeper Bernd Leno, win the Europa League final on Wednesday then the London club would be the fifth English team in the Champions League. The other places will be determined from the end of June via individual qualifying rounds.
The qualified clubs can not just look forward to unforgettable nights of football but also significant amounts of money. UEFA are expected to announce next week how high the bonuses will be for the participants. In comparison to the Europa League, it should be a financial quantum leap. In 2018/2019, UEFA distributed over €2 billion to the clubs and each of the 32 participants received starting bonus of 15.25 million. On top of that, there are performance bonuses. By comparison: Bayer 04 received a starting bonus of less than €3 million in the Europa League last season.
Next Saturday’s final between Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur provides further impressive numbers. The match will be broadcast live in over 200 countries and between 300 and 400 million people will watch the final. That makes the Champions League final one of the biggest individual sporting events in the world – and a former Bayer 04 pro is centre stage. Heung-Min Son, who scored 29 goals in 87 games for the Werkself between 2013 and 2015, played an enormously important role in Spurs qualifying for the final of the Champions League for the first time. The South Korean demonstrated his ability in the quarter-finals against Premier League champions Manchester City with the only goal of the game in the first leg and a brace in the 4-3 defeat in the second. Now Son is about to play in the biggest Champions League game of his career. His first was with the Werkself: He provided the assist for Simon Rolfes to level at 1-1 in the 4-2 defeat against Manchester United in September 2013.
Video game developer Electronic Arts (EA), in collaboration with the Bundesliga, has announced the six nominees for the Bundesliga Player of the Month award for October 2026 – and Bayer 04’s Ibrahim Maza is among them. Fans of the Black and Reds can vote from now until Sunday 8 November (23:59 CET).
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On Tuesday night, the Leverkusen e-sports team played the first three of their six group stage matches in the second round of the 2026/27 VBL Club Championship. They were unable to secure more than a draw in either of their matches against FC Augsburg and VfB Stuttgart. The match against Bayern Munich ended in defeat.
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Once again, several Werkself players are set to represent their respective national teams during the final international break of the calendar year. Here is an overview of the Leverkusen players called up for international duty and the match dates. This will be updated regularly.
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The Bundesliga has announced the nominees for the ‘Top Goal of the Month’ award for October. Fans of the Werkself can now vote for, amongst others, Robert Andrich’s stunning volley from the match against Mainz 05 or Moussa Diaby’s curling shot into the top corner from the same fixture. Voting, exclusively on the Bundesliga app, remains open until Sunday, 8 November (23:59 CET).
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