The first DFB Cup final for Bayer 04 was played on 12 June of that year. The opponents, the Hertha Berlin second team, were the rank outsiders. 15,000 Black and Red fans followed their team to Berlin. The Werkself were in control of the game for the full 90 minutes and only conceded one shot on goal. Equally, the favourites found it hard to penetrate the Hertha defence. Then, on 77 minutes, the striker Ulf Kirsten broke the deadlock with a header from a Pavel Hapal cross. 1-0 to the Werkself! That secured the club’s second title after the UEFA Cup win in 1988.
Match stats:
Bayer 04: Vollborn - Foda, Wörns, Fischer, Lupescu, Kree, Happe, Scholz, Hapal, Thom, Kirsten
Hertha BSC Reserves: Fiedler - O. Schmidt (73. Höpfner), Meyer, Nied, Kolczyk, Ramelow, Klews, A. Schmidt, Kaiser, Holzbecher, Gezen
Goals: 1-0 Kirsten (77’)
Referee: Dr. Markus Merk (Kaiserslautern)
Booked: Kirsten - /
Attendance: 76.391
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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Sustainability once again had many faces at Bayer 04 in 2025: In community activity, the club supported countless regional campaigns, including the Leverkusener Tafel, the Frauenennotruf Leverkusen e.V. and the homeless aid organisation "Kältegang". But the Black and Reds have also been involved in good causes around the world - including the Young Coaches training programmes in Uganda and Ecuador plus the Genuine World Cup in the USA, where the Inclusion Werkself competed. Bayer 04 was also fully committed to the environment and underwent external and independently certification in accordance with the European environmental management standard EMAS, for example, to analyse and optimise the club’s environmental efforts. Looking back at sustainability in 2025.
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Two Saturdays, one Friday and one Sunday: The dates for the Bayer 04 Women's team games on matchdays 16 to 19 have been finalised. Three of the four matches scheduled by the German Football Association (DFB) on Tuesday will be played at home at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium.
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Bayer 04 currently have a number of promising young talents on loan to various clubs in Europe with the aim of gaining match practice and furthering their individual development. Francis Onyeka and Farid Alfa-Ruprecht, for example, play for VfL Bochum 1848, while Artem Stepanov is a striker with 1. FC Nürnberg, coached by World Cup winner Miroslav Klose. Tim Oermann is a defender in the Austrian Bundesliga at top club SK Sturm Graz and Abdoulaye Faye is playing in France for FC Lorient, promoted to Ligue 1 this season. Bayer04.de reviews the first six months for the Leverkusen players out on loan.
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