The two sides met in the first round last term with the Werkself going through with a 3-0 win with goals from Kießling, Calhanoglu and Bender. “Lotte are known as a strong opponent as was evident last year. The fact they knocked out Bremen says everything about them moving up to the third division from the Regional League. We know we’ll a job on our hands,” said Bayer 04 coach Roger Schmidt.
Bayer 04 beat lower league opposition SC Hauenstein 2-1 in the first round. Lotte pulled off a sensational result in their opening match with a 2-1 victory over Bundesliga side Werder Bremen. The team, including former Bayer 04 keeper Benedikt Fernandez, finished last season as champions of the Regional League West to gain promotion to the third division where they currently lie ninth in the table with five points from four games.
The Round Two ties will be played on 25 and 26 October with four matches at 19.00 and four at 20.30 on each day. 16 Bundesliga teams are still in the tournament with RB Leipzig (losing 6-5 on penalties against Dynamo Dresden) and Werder Bremen (a 2-1 defeat against Sportfreunde Lotte) going out in the opening round. 13 second division clubs are in Round Two plus the two third tier teams Sportfreunde Lotte and Hallescher FC plus Regional League FC Astoria Walldorf.
Round Two draw in full:
Bundesliga v Bundesliga
FC Köln v TSG Hoffenheim
FC Bayern Munich v FC Augsburg
Eintracht Frankfurt v FC Ingolstadt
Bundesliga v Second division
FC Nürnberg v FC Schalke 04
Borussia Dortmund v FC Union Berlin
SC Freiburg v SV Sandhausen
FC Heidenheim v VfL Wolfsburg
Borussia Mönchengladbach v VfB Stuttgart
FC St. Pauli v Hertha BSC
SpVgg Greuther Fürth v FSV Mainz 05
Second division v Second division
Hannover 96 v Fortuna Düsseldorf
Dynamo Dresden v Arminia Bielefeld
Würzburger Kickers v TSV 1860 Munich
Third division v Bundesliga
Hallescher FC v Hamburg SV
Sportfreunde Lotte v Bayer 04
Non-league v Bundesliga
FC-Astoria Walldorf v SV Darmstadt 98
Rüdiger Vollborn has been at the club for 40 years, he holds the record number of Bundesliga appearances for the club (401) and is the only Bayer 04 player to have won both the UEFA Cup (1988) and the DFB Pokal (1993). And the Berliner stayed with the Werkself after ending his impressive playing career as he worked as a goalkeeping coach for the following nine years. Vollborn now works under the Bayer Cross as a fan liaison officer and club archivist. Since February 2021, the personalised Black and Red lexicon takes Werkself fans under the heading of 'Rudi recounts...' on a brief trip through the history of Bayer 04 every month.
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Kasper Hjulmand has led the Werkself back to winning ways and is back in the knockout phase of the UEFA Champions League with Bayer 04 after the 3-0 win against Villarreal on Wednesday evening. In an interview with the Werkself magazine at the BayArena in the team meeting room, directly opposite the dressing room, he provided some special insights for the current issue, which was published in January. A conversation with the 53-year-old coach about values, attitudes and personal experiences as well as interests outside of football.
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The thrilling 3-1 win for Bayer 04 against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Hinrunde is a fond memory for Alejandro Grimaldo, with his brace from free kicks, and coach Kasper Hjulmand, who was in the dugout under the Cross for the first time. Now comes the return fixture in the metropolis on the River Main and after going out of the DFB Pokal and the Champions League, the full focus at Eintracht, currently managed by two interim coaches, is now on the Bundesliga. For their part, the Werkself will do everything in their power to continue the longest winning run against a Bundesliga club. The matchday news.
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Bayer 04 have ended Artem Stepanov’s loan deal at Nürnberg and agreed a new loan to Utrecht in the Netherlands. The Ukrainian striker did not play as much as hoped for at the Bundesliga 2 club and will now continue his development in the Eredivisie for the rest of 2025/26.
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The draw for the knockout play-offs of the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League was made on Friday, 30 January and saw Bayer 04 paired with Olympiacos. It’s a reunion with the Greek side following the Werkself’s 2-0 loss in Athens on Matchday 7 of the league phase.
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