The second round will be played on Tuesday 26 October and Wednesday 27 October. Exact fixture details will be announced in due course. Then the start of ticket sales will be released.
Sporting director Simon Rolfes: "KSC are an interesting opponent, a team with ambition in the second division. We are at home and we want to live up to our role as favourites."
Head coach Gerardo Seoane: "I'm looking forward to this game as the cup competition is something special. Of course, we face certain expectations as the higher placed club. But we also have them ourselves. The next round is the clear target and that's how we want to approach the game against Karlsruhe from the start."
While the Werkself and KSC have played each other 34 times in the Bundesliga the two sides have only meant once before in the DFB Cup. That was a first-round tie at the Wildpakstadion on 11 August 2017. KSC had just been relegated from the second division but performed well and took the game to extra time with a certain amount of luck. Bayer 04 were then able to turn their visual superiority into goals on the scoreboard. Dominik Kohr, Joel Pohjanpalo and Leon Bailey netted the goals in a 3-0 win. The Werkself went through to the second round and only went out of the cup competition at the semi-final stage against Bayern Munich.
Preußen Münster vs Hertha BSC
Waldhof Mannheim vs Union Berlin
VfL Osnabrück vs SC Freiburg
SV Babelsberg vs RB Leipzig
1860 München vs Schalke 04
Hannover 96 vs Fortuna Düsseldorf
VfL Bochum vs FC Augsburg
Borussia Mönchengladbach vs Bayern Munich
Dynamo Dresden vs FC St. Pauli
TSG Hoffenheim vs Holstein Kiel
Jahn Regensburg vs Hansa Rostock
FC Nürnberg vs Hamburg SV
FSV Mainz 05 vs Arminia Bielefeld
VfB Stuttgart vs FC Köln
Borussia Dortmund vs FC Ingolstadt
Round of 16: 18 and 19 January 2022
Quarter-finals: 1 and 2 March
Semi-finals: 19 and 20 April
Final: 21 May in Berlin
Bayer 04 and Olympiacos had only met twice before the current UEFA Champions campaign. After the encounter on Matchday 7 of this season’s league phase, the Werkself travel to face the Greek side for the second time in just four weeks for the knockout play-off first leg. The Black and Reds were dominant for large spells in mid-January but lost 2-0 after missing a number of presentable chances. The Werkself aim to do better on Wednesday night to “seize the chance for revenge,” as managing director sport Simon Rolfes put it. Here’s all you need to know ahead of the game in our matchday news.
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A bitter end to the fifth showdown of the 2025/26 VBL Club Championship as the #B04eSports team failed to take any points in the three remaining matches of the preliminary online round of the fifth and final showdown, missing out on the offline round. They can no longer take points in the overall table. Bayer 04 slipped out on the top eight, so direct participation in the final event for the German Club Championship is no longer possible, with Bayer 04 having to contest the play-offs.
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A rematch in Athens: On Wednesday, 18 February (kick-off: 21:00 CET), the Werkself face Greek double winners Olympiacos for the second time this season at the Karaiskakis Stadium. After the encounter in the league phase, it's now time for the first leg of the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League play-offs. Ahead of the game, head coach Kasper Hjulmand spoke about how his side will approach the clash, while captain Robert Andrich explained how the team will try to dampen the atmosphere in the stadium tomorrow.
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With the much-celebrated 2-1 derby win against 1. FC Köln, the Bayer 04 Women underlined their credentials as one of the top teams in the Bundesliga. Anyone wishing to support the Werkself in the stadium in the race for third place can now purchase tickets for the home match against FC Carl Zeiss Jena. Tickets are also still available for the upcoming clash against TSG Hoffenheim at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium on Sunday, 22 February. The latest information at a glance.
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Let's give it our all one more time! Today, Tuesday 17 February (live on the VBL Twitch channel from 18:00 CET), the #B04eSports team play the remaining three preliminary round matches of the fifth and final showdown of the VBL Club Championship 2025/26. The Leverkusen console pros go up against 1. FC Nürnberg, 1. FC Magdeburg and Bayern Munich, aiming to secure their place in the offline knockout round and pick up valuable points for the overall table and the battle to get into the final event for the German Club Championship. The lowdown on our next opponents.
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