From 18.00 CET, the first opponents on Tuesday night are Hamburg SV. The Hanseatic club finished eighth last term (Bayer 04 were fifth). This season they have been competing at the top of the table so far. “They are undefeated and very difficult to play against one-on-one or two-vs-two,” said Fabian ‘B04_DUBZJE’ de Cae who returns to the Werkself matchday squad after recovery from illness.
Bayer 04 are in striking distance of HSV in third place in the table and are just three points adrift. SC Paderborn 07 are not in the leading group. The club from the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia are currently tenth but, like Hamburg, have played one matchday less then the #B04eSportler. The Werkself have a nine-point cushion over SCP 07 at the moment. De Cae and Co. want to extend that – ideally after a successful opener against the top team tonight.
Strengthening the Bayer 04 Leverkusen youth teams: Konstantinos Kotsifakis will join the Werkself from Bundesliga 2 club Hertha Berlin for the 2026/27 season, where he will be a permanent member of the Leverkusen U19 coaching set-up. The German-Greek will also take on an operational role in coaching the Bayer 04 Future Team. The 29-year-old was most recently head coach of the U17s at Hertha Berlin.
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Another award for the Bayer 04 head groundsman and staff: After coming top in the 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2024/25 seasons, the BayArena pitch came second in the Bundesliga Pitch of the Year ranking for the 2025/26 season. VfL Wolfsburg secured the top spot this year, with TSG Hoffenheim in third place.
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Opening opponents, derby weekends, the opponents in the season finale: This information and more will be available to Bayer 04 fans on Thursday, 2 July, when the 2026/27 Bundesliga fixture list is published.
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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 personal 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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