“We’ll definitely face a highly motivated challenger in Sonnenhof Großaspach, which we’ll take very seriously. We want to start the season with a win. Our aspiration is to once again go very far in this competition,” said Simon Rolfes, managing director sport.
A total of 64 clubs are competing in this year’s DFB Pokal. Leverkusen were in one pot with last season’s Bundesliga teams and the top 14 sides from Bundesliga 2. The other pot contained the last four second division teams, the top four from the 3. Liga and the 24 regional representatives.
Großaspach are the winners of the Württemberg Cup and have just earned promotion to the fourth tier Regionalliga. The game will be the first competitive fixture in charge of the Werkself for Erik ten Hag.
The second round is set to be played on 28/29 October; the round of 16 is on 2/3 December; the quarter-finals on 3/4 and 10/11 February 2026; the semi-finals on 21/22 April. The final in Berlin will be on 23 May.
First-round draw in full:
Dynamo Dresden vs. Mainz
Arminia Bielefeld vs. Werder Bremen
Schweinfurt vs. Fortuna Düsseldorf
Wehen Wiesbaden vs. Bayern Munich
Sonnenhof Großaspach vs. Bayer 04 Leverkusen
Saarbrücken vs. Magdeburg
Lokomotive Leipzig vs. Schalke
Bahlinger SC vs. Heidenheim
Hansa Rostock vs. Hoffenheim
Blau-Weiß Lohne vs. Greuther Fürth
Sandhausen vs. RB Leipzig
Energie Cottbus vs. Hannover
Homburg vs. Holstein Kiel
Jahn Regensburg vs. Köln
Preußen Münster vs. Hertha Berlin
Gütersloh vs. Union Berlin
Sportfreunde Lotte vs. Freiburg
BFC Dynamo vs. Bochum
Eintracht Norderstedt vs. St. Pauli
Lübeck vs. Darmstadt
Engers vs. Eintracht Frankfurt
Illertissen vs. Nürnberg
Meuselwitz vs. Karlsruhe
Eintracht Braunschweig vs. VfB Stuttgart
Rot-Weiß Essen vs. Borussia Dortmund
RSV Eintracht vs. Kaiserslautern
Viktoria Köln vs. Paderborn
Atlas Delmenhorst vs. Borussia Mönchengladbach
Hallescher FC vs. Augsburg
Pirmasens vs. Hamburg
Hemelingen vs. Wolfsburg
Ulm vs. Elversberg
High spirits and previously untold stories: Around 100 Bayer 04 fans packed the Schwadbud fan pub in the east stand of the BayArena on Thursday evening to be there in person for the first instalment of the new series of events entitled “Rudi lädt ein” (Rudi invites you). They listened intently as long-serving Werkself players Gonzalo Castro and Stefan Kießling chatted with record appearance-maker Rüdiger Vollborn and presenter and stadium announcer Tobias Ufer about their many years together at the club, shared amusing anecdotes and revealed dressing room secrets. Anyone who missed the premiere can already look forward to the second instalment – on 12 May, Rudi will be testing the expert knowledge of Bayer 04 fans during a quiz night.
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The Bundesliga home game against VfL Wolfsburg in the first half of the season was one of those classic ‘days to forget’ for Bayer 04 Women. It started with goalkeeper Charlotte Voll being shown a red card in the first minute of the game, and following a further sending-off, coach Roberto Pätzold's 9-women side ended up losing 5-1 to last season's runners-up. At 18.30 CET on Sunday, they'll have the chance to exact revenge at the AOK Stadium - and pick up valuable points in the race for third place.
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Sofie Zdebel is up for the Goal of the Month award for February on ARD-Sportschau. Fans have until 21 March (19:00 CET) to vote for the Germany U23 international's volley to make it 2-0 in the Bayer 04 Women's derby against FC Köln (2-1).
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen are further expanding their partner network: The feed manufacturer PerNaturam is an official sponsor of the Bayer 04 Womens team. The partnership opens up a wide range of opportunities for the company to position its brand in the Bundesliga environment.
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Do you dream of wearing the Bayer cross on your chest? To play in black and red like your role models Loreen Bender, Cornelia Kramer, Kristin Kögel and co. from the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga? Then take your chance now! Our female youth teams are once again on the lookout for new talent. That's why Bayer 04 are organising a talent day on 12 April 2026 for the first time this year with trials for female juniors.
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