Bayer 04 have declared a Shirt Day for Friday. Wear black and red to show you are right behind the Werkself. Whether it's at work, shopping, playing sport or at home: Everybody should wear Black and Red! On that subject: The Werkself, as against Mainz on the final Bundesliga matchday, will be playing in the new 2020/21 home kit. The highlight is the DFB Cup badge on the chest. The new home shirt is available HERE and from the Bayer 04 fan shops.
Shortly after landing in Berlin, our sporting managing director has a meeting at the Bild Zeitung on Friday. Rudi Völler is the guest on a 30-minute talk show 'Reif ist live' with the football pundit and host of the programme Marcel Reif and presenter Matthias Brügemann to talk about the final. The live broadcast is available on bild.de from 13.00 CET.
Another programme announcement: On Friday morning, the ZDF show Morgenmagazin will include an interview with Peter Bosz from the BayArena. Anybody who does not want to wait so long or simply somebody who gets up early can see it as it is also available from Thursday night online on the ZDF website.
It's incredible how much support the Werkself are receiving from Leverkusen and its surroundings. Our city has turned black and red as we've already reported in recent days with the banner and flag campaigns. Now, more and more cars can be seen on the streets in the morning with Bayer 04 flags; the bus stops and numerous advertising spaces are decorated for the final. The Schwadbus is also driving round the different parts of the city of Leverkusen – and the popular vintage vehicle is available for photos. Here are a few images:
With all the euphoria and anticipation ahead of Saturday’s game at the Olympic Stadium – the fans will obviously be incredibly missed! It is actually the first time a DFB Cup final has been played behind closed doors. The lowest attendance at a cup final was in 1960/61 when 18,000 fans saw Werder Bremen beat FC Kaiserslautern 2-0 at the then Schalke ground of the ‘Glückauf-Kampfbahn’. Even during the Second World War, that saw five finals, there were never less than 45,000 fans. There will be some atmosphere at the 75,000-capacity stadium with a new lighting concept. This involves a full colour LED floodlight system that has been built at a stadium for the first time worldwide. And even if the usual events have had to be cancelled due to the coronavirus measures: The confetti cannon will be fired at the end and tinsel showered over the winning team.
On ‘19:04 – Die Show’ (19:04 CET, on YouTube and Facebook) the former Bayer 04 player and 1993 cup winner, Christian Wörns, will be revelling in memories: "When you win a title you only have positive memories of the whole thing. I was still very young in the final – I wasn't that grounded back then and had incredible stage fright. There was a huge amount of pressure because we were the favourites and definitely wanted to win." In addition, we will be asking the Werkself what a perfect final looks like for the players, taking a look back at the quarter-final against Union Berlin in the series 'Road to #B04RLIN' and we will bring celebrity greetings to the team – from René Adler through Julius Brink to Vanessa Mai.
Peter Bosz and his players fly out to Berlin on Friday – the team bus with all the necessary equipment on board set off on Thursday and will pick up the Werkself from the airport and take them to the hotel and then the stadium. The pre-match press conference with the head coach will be held at the Olympic Stadium and will be followed by the final pre-match training at the venue.
Previous results are clearly in favour of the titleholders Bayern Munich: Bayern have won 55 of 90 games and the Werkself have come out on top 19 times. But the Werkself have proved it is possible to get a result against Bayern this term with a 2-1 win in the league match in Munich. In the DFB Cup, Bayer 04 have only won once in five meetings with a 4-2 victory at the quarter-final stage in 2009. Tranquillo Barnetta, Arturo Vidal, Patrick Helmes and Stefan Kießling scored to knock the record champions out of the competition and go on to play in the final. The two clubs now meet for the first time in the DFB Cup final.
The Colombian midfielder Gustavo Puerta is set to join Hull City on permanent terms from 1 July. Bayer 04 Leverkusen and the Championship club originally agreed a season-long loan in the summer with an option to buy included in the contract. A permanent move to Hull City has been triggered by the number of league appearances Puerta has made this term.
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The Easter holidays enticed a large number of Bayer 04 fans to come to the training ground at the BayArena, today Wednesday 16 April, to watch the Werkself at an open training session in the afternoon. Afterwards, the players and head coach Xabi Alonso took time out to sign autographs and pose for photographs. And there was a lot going on besides: While midfield maestro Granit Xhaka fielded questions at an entertaining children's press conference, including the story behind his squad number 34, Nathan Tella faced the media.
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Away fans take note: Tickets for the forthcoming away game for the Werkself against FC St Pauli at the Millerntor Stadium on Sunday, 20 April (kick-off: 19:30 CEST) are exclusively available on the Bayer 04 app. The tickets are available at once and as usual under the 'Profil' tab by clicking on the 'Meine Tickets' button.
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Flap up, screen on: With the help of the new Bayer 04 tactics truck, training content and match action for the Werkself as well as tactical graphics can now be shown and discussed on the training ground.
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Werkself-TV shows the highlights of the Bayer 04 women's 1-1 draw against 1. FC Köln on the 19th matchday of the Google Pixel Frauen-Bundesliga 2024/25...
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