Tonight brings the next 'Spieltag – Die Show'. The live broadcast from the Schwadbud starts at 20.15 CET with Mara taking you through the evening. There promises to be lively discussion this time with legendary general manager Reiner Calmund as well as the former Werkself players Philip Wollscheid and Carsten Ramelow joining the broadcast that will be available by the Bayer 04 YouTube channel.
For FCS, the first fourth tier team in the history of the DFB Cup to reach the last four, the semi-final is the first competitive match in more than three months. "But it is for my players and me something like the match of our lives. There is an extremely limited probability that we will ever be able to experience something like this again," explained Saarbrücken's head coach Lukas Kwasniok ahead of the game. The FCS team and staff have been at their quarantine training camp at the Victor's Residenz Hotel Rodenhof since Wednesday.
Bayer04.de this week interviewed Marcus Mann, the sporting director at Saarbrücken. The 36-year-old talked about a "bonus match" for the club, his assessment of their chances and the time at the quarantine hotel. Click HERE for the interview.
With a few hours to go ahead of the clash at the Hermann Neuberger Stadium in Völklingen, we have looked back at the eight Werkself appearances in the last four of the domestic cup competition. That includes numerous exciting encounters that were settled in extra time or even with a penalty shootout. Curious? Click HERE for the article.
Midfielder Nadiem Amiri, looking at the knockout tie against the Regional League side, stresses that motivation is "high" ahead of the game. "From the first minute, we want to show with our performance that we definitely want to go through to the final," said the Germany international in an interview with dfb.de. The 23-year-old also explained: "we'll have to be patient. And an early goal for us would definitely help." The interview is available (in German) HERE.
We'll also take a brief look at last weekend – and that for a good reason! Youngster Florian Wirtz has entered the history books of the Bundesliga with his goal in the 4-2 defeat to FC Bayern: The Werkself winger now holds top spot with his first goal in the top flight as the youngest league goalscorer – at an age of just 17 years and 34 days. He takes over from the previous record holder Nuri Sahin who was 17 years and 82 days old.
In twelfth place is Julian Brandt who scored his first league goal with the Werkself at the age of 17 and 337 days. Ninth place is currently held by Kai Havertz (17 years, 295 days).
Striker Joel Pohjanpalo (under contract at Bayer 04 to 2022) only made one appearance for the Werkself this season due to a number of injuries in the first half of the campaign. The Finland international then went out on loan to second division Hamburg SV in the winter break to get match practice. The 25-year-old is currently helping the team from North Germany in their quest to gain promotion to the Bundesliga – and he is proving to be a crucial factor in this enterprise. "Danger" has scored seven times in ten league matches. Last night he scored twice in the 3-3 draw against Holstein Kiel. Carry on, Jolle!
Once again in the last four! Bayer 04 put in a mature and, for long stretches, commanding performance to defeat a courageous FC St. Pauli in the quarter-finals of the 2025/26 DFB Pokal to reach the semi-finals of the competition for the third time in a row. Martin Terrier gave Leverkusen the lead on 32 minutes before Patrik Schick made it 2-0 on 63 minutes. Substitute Jonas Hofmann capped off a strong second half for the Werkself with the third goal in added time.
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The German Football League (DFL) has announced the three candidates for the title of Bundesliga Rookie of the Month for January. That includes Werkself player Jarell Quansah. Fans of Bayer 04 can vote for their favourite on the Bundesliga app from now until Thursday, 5 January (23:59 CET).
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As in the past two years, the Werkself are aiming to come out on top in the DFB Pokal quarter-finals on Tuesday night, 3 February (kick-off: 20:45 CET). With eleven home games in a row without defeat against the Kiezkicker, the Black and Reds go into the floodlit match in confident mood. But the Pokal, as is often said, has its own magic and the team from the Millerntor has much more to offer than the current 17th place in the Bundesliga would suggest. After all, Bayer 04 are one of the big German teams the combative Hamburgers have already made life difficult for this season. The matchday news.
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The Leverkusen eSports team picked up valuable points and made up ground in the overall table with a top four finish in the offline round in Showdown 4 in the VBL Club Championship 2025/26. In the round of 16, Showdown 1 winners Bayer 04 defeated the unbeaten runners-up in the previous round, VfL Bochum, in a thrilling penalty shoot-out. The Landwehr cousins, themselves the current club runners-up, then beat the current club champions and Showdown 3 winners RB Leipzig. It was not until the semi-finals that they lost out to the eventual showdown winners Borussia Mönchengladbach.
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Welcome to Leverkusen, Rafaela Borggräfe. Bayer 04 have signed the goalkeeper on loan from Liverpool until the end of the season. Bayer04.de profiles the 25-year-old.
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