
That was the outcome of the draw held at the German Football Museum in Dortmund on Sunday evening 29 May, broadcast live on the ARD Sportschau. The draw was made by former player Kevin Großkreutz and DFB vice president Peter Frymuth.
Simon Rolfes, sporting director: "An interesting draw. Elversberg have just been promoted to the third division and will be in euphoric mood just because of that. We want to make amends for the disappointing performance in the competition last season. That means taking the first round match very seriously and obviously wanting to win it."
The 36 professional teams from the Bundesliga and the second division are joined by the four best teams from the third division last season – FC Magdeburg, Eintracht Braunschweig, FC Kaiserslautern and TSV 1860 Munich. In addition there are 21 state cup winners from the lower leagues and one team from each of the three state associations with the highest membership in Bavaria, North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony in the competition.
As Bayern Munich (champions of Germany) and RB Leipzig (DFB Cup winners) meet in the DFL Supercup on 30 July, the first-round matches for those two clubs will be played on 30/31 August. The second round is set for 18/19 October 2022. The Round of 16 will be on 31 January/1 February and 7/8 February 2023. The quarter-final ties are planned for 4/5 April 2023, the semi-finals on 2/3 May 2023. The final will be played on 3 June 2023.
We will keep you updated here at bayer04.de as soon as the match dates are confirmed and ticket details are available.
DFB Cup first round ties:
SSV Jahn Regensburg vs FC Köln
FV Engers 07 vs DSC Arminia Bielefeld
VfB Lübeck vs FC Hansa Rostock
FC Kaan-Marienborn vs FC Nürnberg
TSV Schott Mainz vs Hannover 96
TSG Neustrelitz vs Karlsruher SC
Teutonia Ottensen vs RB Leipzig
Dynamo Dresden vs VfB Stuttgart
Viktoria Berlin vs VfL Bochum 1848
Chemnitzer FC vs FC Union Berlin
SV 07 Elversberg vs Bayer 04 Leverkusen
BSV Rehden vs SV Sandhausen
FC Einheit Wernigerode vs SC Paderborn 07
SV Rödinghausen vs TSG 1899 Hoffenheim
FV Illertissen vs FC Heidenheim
Kickers Offenbach vs Fortuna Düsseldorf
Eintracht Braunschweig vs Hertha Berlin
1860 Munich vs Borussia Dortmund
FC Kaiserslautern vs SC Freiburg
SV Oberachern vs Borussia Mönchengladbach
FC Ingolstadt 04 vs SV Darmstadt 98
SV Waldhof Mannheim vs Holstein Kiel
TuS Blau-Weiß Lohne vs FC Augsburg
SV Straelen vs FC St. Pauli
SpVgg Bayreuth vs Hamburg SV
FC Erzgebirge Aue vs FSV Mainz 05
Energie Cottbus vs Werder Bremen
Bremer SV vs FC Schalke 04
Carl Zeiss Jena vs VfL Wolfsburg
Stuttgarter Kickers vs SpVgg Greuther Fürth
FC Viktoria Köln vs Bayern Munich
FC Magdeburg vs Eintracht Frankfurt

In their third friendly of this pre-season, Bayer 04 played on home soil for the first time – and won there too! The Werkself claimed a comfortable 4-0 victory against Belgian top-flight side KRC Genk at the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion. Jeanuel Belocian (9’) and Nathan Tella (42’) gave a dominant Leverkusen a 2-0 lead at the break, which Afonso Moreira (51’) and Christian Kofane (53’) doubled after the break. Among the many second-half substitutions was Patrik Schick, who made his first friendly appearance of the summer.
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The Werkself are finally back. On Saturday 8 August, Bayer 04 kick off the 2026/27 campaign with their opening match. But there’s far more than just a double-header in store for Werkself supporters. True to the motto ‘One day. Two teams. One club’, the BayArena and the Ulrich Haberland Stadium will be transformed into a world of excitement.
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The Werkself continue their 2026/27 pre-season preparations with their third friendly against Belgian top-flight side KRC Genk at the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion on Wednesday 29 July (kick-off 15:00 CEST). Werkself-TV is broadcasting the match live and in full in a stream from 14:50 CEST...

After the children from the Bayer 04 Football Academy grilled Janis Blaswich and Simeon Rapsch last week, another group of 20 young Werkself fans gathered at the BayArena press conference room on Tuesday afternoon, 28 July . This time, the kids directed their questions at Tim Oermann and Jonah Berghoff. Defender Oermann raved about his school days, whilst talented midfielder Berghoff revealed to the young footballers, amongst other things, who his favourite player is – and he is also at Bayer 04. To round things off, the pair naturally obliged with all requests for autographs and selfies.
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Bayer 04 are back on the pitch. Following the first training sessions, the Werkself play the first pre-season friendly on Saturday, July 18. The match against Oberliga club Sportfreunde Baumberg kicks off at 15:30 CEST in Monheim am Rhein. Fans unable to attend the match can watch head coach Carles Martínez’s first game in charge for free via a livestream at bayer04.de and on the Bayer 04 app, as well as on Werkself.tv (exclusively for members). Just log on and watch the games live. All the other Werkself preseason friendlies leading up to the 2026/27 season will also be streamed live for free.
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