This will be the second competitive meeting of Sportfreunde Lotte and Bayer 04. The first encounter was last season in the first round of the DFB Cup. The Werkself clocked up a convincing 3-0 win with Stefan Kießling opening the scoring on 15 minutes. Hakan Calhanoglu (55') and Lars Bender (77') sealed the victory with two goals from the penalty spot.
Lotte knock out Werder Bremen
Sportfreunde Lotte face Bundesliga opposition for the fourth time in their fourth DFB Cup tie. After defeats against VFL Bochum in 2009 (0-1) and Bayer 04 in 2015 (0-3) the third tie against Werder Bremen produced the first victory (2-1).
Lotte ended last season in the Regional League West with a 15 point advantage over the Borussia Mönchengladbach second team. With 83 points Sportfreunde was the most successful regional League side in of Germany in 2015/16.
Since losing out under coach Robin Dutt to Dynamo Dresden in the first round of the cup in 2011/12 (a 4-3 defeat on penalties) the Werkself have reached the last 16 in the last four seasons.
Quarter-finals three times in succession
Bayer 04 have reached the quarter-finals in each of the past three seasons, thus equalling a club record. The last time the Werkself reached the quarter-finals of the DFB Cup three times on the bounce was between 1991/92 and 1993/94.
The last three seasons saw the Black and Red's go out at the quarter-final stage at home. On the road, Bayer 04 have always gone through in the last nine cup games – a current club record.
Will Chicha score again?
Chicharito Chicharito paved the way to the 2-1 first round success at Hauenstein with his opening goal. In 2015/16 the Mexican scored for cup goals – only Dortmund's Henrikh Mkhitaryan managed more (five goals).
Fernandez:"I would have preferred a different opponent"
Lotte goalkeeper Benedikt Fernandez is a good old friend in Leverkusen. Fernandez spent almost eleven years at Bayer 04 making six Bundesliga appearances for the Werkself. He was in goal for Lotte in last season's 3-0 defeat. "This match was extremely special for me. I recognised a lot of familiar faces after all those years. You can't beat that. That's why I would have preferred a different opponent this time as Bayer will not be an easy team to beat," said the 31 year-old in an interview with DFB.de.
More familiar faces
In addition to Fernandez, Gerrit Nauber, André Dej and Alexander Hettich are three other players at Sportfreunde who used to play for Bayer 04: André Dej, who played for Bayer 04 youth teams, provided the assist for Matthias Rahn to score the first goal in the 2-1 win against Werder Bremen in the first round. And on 54 minutes he netted the winner. Dej was involved in seven attempts on goal - the highest number on the pitch.
Lotte’s first-choice captain Gerrit Nauber moved from the VfL Osnabrück U17s to the Bayer 04 U17s in 2008 and he went on to play for the U19 side and the reserves. In July 2012 Nauber signed for Lotte. Alexander Hettich helped fire the Bayer 04 U19 team to victory over Bayern Munich in extra time in 2007 to win the German U19 title.
Bayer 04 are away to Croatian champions Dinamo Zagreb on Matchday 5 of the league phase of the 2026/27 UEFA Europa League. The game kicks off on Thursday 26 November at 18:45 CET at the Maksimir Stadium. All the information on ticket sales.
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It wasn’t just on the pitch that there was cause for celebration around the Werkself’s 2–1 home win against SC Freiburg. Plenty of happy faces could be seen near the dugouts at half-time too. Once again, CEO Fernando Carro, alongside former striker and club ambassador Stefan Kießling, paid tribute to eight supporters’ clubs celebrating up to their 30th anniversary on behalf of Bayer 04.
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He’s done it: Patrik Schick also found the back of the net in Bayer 04’s 2–1 win over SC Freiburg on Matchday six of the 2026/27 Bundesliga season – a club record! In what was a high-quality match from the word go, the Werkself were briefly rattled by the visitors’ opener from Derry Scherhant in the 14th minute but fought back with an equaliser from Ibrahim Maza just six minutes later. In the second half, the Black and Reds took control on their home turf and secured a well-earned win through record-holder Schick. In doing do, the Werkself inflicted the first defeat of the season on the club from the Black Forest.
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It was a match that will live long in the memory of everyone involved: The Bayer 04 U19s celebrated their seventh win in seven matches in the DFB Youth League preliminary round – and yet it was a very special victory indeed: in the 4–3 (1–1) win at VfL Bochum 1848, no fewer than five goals came in the final quarter of an hour. As the 90th minute approached, coach Patrick Greveraars’s side found themselves behind, but then fought back in true ‘Laterkusen’ style.
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Under Carles Martínez, the Werkself have so far proved unbeatable at the BayArena. The Spaniard has led his team to victory in all three of their most recent home matches – and, it's worth noting, without conceding a single goal. On Sunday, 18 October (kick-off: 15:30 CEST / live on DAZN and Werkself Radio), current league leaders SC Freiburg will make the trip to Leverkusen, but will be without their top scorer. What's more, the Werkself have won all three of their previous home matches against the Black Forest club. With a goal, Patrik Schick could not only secure a fourth consecutive victory but also set a memorable record. Meanwhile, on what will be the ‘Health Day' at the BayArena, much of the focus will be on physical wellbeing. Today's matchday news.
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