The Black and Reds arrived in Saarland on Friday afternoon. Lukas Hradecky and Co. stayed in the state capital Saarbrücken overnight with today's agenda including a walk, a brief meeting and lunch. After that, the Werkself will make the 90 minute journey to Elversberg on the team bus.
Jonathan Tah and Co. will make their first appearance in the red home kit from the new supplier Castore at the URSAPHARM Arena. The hosts Elversberg will play in all white.
The German Football Association (DFB) has appointed Martin Petersen as the referee for the DFB Cup tie in Elversberg. The 37-year-old has previously refereed five games involving the Werkself – with the Black and Reds clocking up three convincing wins with a total of eleven goals in those encounters. One match was lost and the other ended all square.
Petersen’s assistants are Robert Wessel and Christian Ballweg, the fourth official is Benedikt Kempes. Have a good game.
While the Werkself start the league campaign next weekend, today's hosts have already played one game in the third division – and they hit the ground running. In a clash between newly promoted clubs, the team under head coach Horst Steffen registered an impressive 5-1 win away at Rot-Weiss Essen. Further information on the team from Saarland can be found in our profile of the next opponents.
SV 07 Elversberg and Bayer 04 meet for the first time in a competitive match. The Saarlanders are opponents number 211 for the Werkself – only Bayern Munich played more teams in German professional football (233 including DFB Cup first round ties). SVE have won once in eight matches against Bundesliga clubs: They beat Hannover 96 on penalties in the first round in 2010/11.
Bayer 04 are one of five clubs to have progressed from round one in all of the last ten seasons (as have Borussia Dortmund, SC Freiburg, by Munich and FC Köln). The last time the Werkself were knocked out in the first round was back in 2011/12 with a 4-3 defeat after extra time at Dynamo Dresden. Bayer 04 have proved to be prolific in the DFB Cup: The Black and Reds have scored at least one goal (69 goals) in the last 25 games in the domestic cup competition with no other team on target as often in the competition.
The German Football League (DFL) have put the DFB Cup first round ties under the motto of sustainability and climate protection to draw more attention to these issues in German professional football. A number of environmental protection measures are planned, for example a minute of action: That means all the cup games will kick off one minutes late to allow appeals and information on climate protection and sustainability.
In addition to a number of measures by the home club, Bayer 04 will also draw attention to these issues as the visitors in the cup tie at SV 07 Elversberg. Werkself skipper Lukas Hradecky will wear an alternative captain's armband made of sustainable material covered with logos and slogans on the issue of climate protection. In addition, Bayer 04 will take part in a fundraising campaign with €100 donated for every goal they score. The funds will be handed over to the DFB and the not-for-profit organisation ‘Sports for Future’ that supports climate protection projects. The DFB will double the funds raised by the clubs at the end of the matchday.
Happy birthday, Kevin. The former Werkself player Kevin Volland is 30 today. The striker joined Leverkusen from TSG Hoffenheim in 2016 and he went on to make his debut in the Champions League and the Europa League for the Black and Reds. The Allgäu-born forward was at Leverkusen for four years before moving on to the top French club AS Monaco. In his time at Bayer 04, Volland made 148 appearances and he also captained the Werkself in several games.
Bayern Munich come to the BayArena this Saturday with an 11-point lead in the Bundesliga as they look to take a step closer to the title. As imperious as they may seem, a weakness has emerged of late that the Werkself proved they can exploit in Wednesday’s 1-1 draw with Arsenal in the Champions League. Leverkusen are also looking to make it four Bundesliga home games unbeaten against the Bavarians. Here’s all you need to know ahead of the 15:30 CET kick-off in our matchday news.
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Another home game, another top opponent - another marker? Three days after their convincing performance in the 1-1 draw with Arsenal in the UEFA Champions League round of 16 first leg, Bayer 04 continue their Bundesliga campaign with an equally high-calibre fixture. Matchday 26 sees league leaders Bayern Munich visit the sold-out BayArena. Ahead of the clash, head coach Kasper Hjulmand spoke about a comparison between Arsenal and the Bavarians, Bayern's high-scoring performance in Europe's premier club competition and a return to the squad for one Werkself player.
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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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They're well on their way to becoming German champions for the 35th time and once again proved their incredible class in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday. This Saturday, 14 March (kick-off: 15.30 CET), Bayern Munich will be the visitors to the BayArena. It'll be a meeting of the two Bundesliga teams with the most dominant styles of play. A look at our opponents shows the visitors from the Bavarian capital have many strengths - but are also vulnerable.
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