The 20 travelling fan club members took the clash with Borussia Mönchengladbach (2-2) as an opportunity to support the Werkself again live at the BayArena. Following the game, they made their Player of the Season award. This year’s winner is Jeremie Frimpong. The wing-back accepted the award in person.
After the final whistle, the defender went to the home end where he thanked the Werkself fans from Britain: "I didn't know that there was a Bayer 04 Fan club in the UK. It's great that the fans came over specially for the match and to present the award. I feel totally honoured!" Of course, after the presentation of the trophy there was the opportunity for group photos, selfies and a chat with the Leverkusen player.
Frimpong was born in Amsterdam but moved to Manchester in the north of England with his family when he was a child. He was at the Manchester City Academy and he played for the U23 team of this season's Champions League finalists in 2018/19. He then signed for Celtic and played for the Scottish club in the Europa League in 2020/21 and collected several honours at a national level. He won the Scottish Premiership, the Scottish Cup as well as the Scottish League Cup with Celtic in 2020. He joined Bayer 04 the start of 2021.
He is the second highest goalscorer at the club this season with nine goals behind teammate Moussa Diaby. Frimpong last scored in a 4-1 away win at Union Saint-Gilloise in the Europa League quarter-final second leg. To date he has made 94 appearances and played over 7,000 minutes in a Werkself shirt.
It was another incredibly close call in the end: The second showdown in the 2026/27 VBL Club Championship saw the #B04eSports team once again narrowly miss out on a place in the top 16 of the preliminary round – and with it, a spot in the in-person knockout stage. It was a bitter blow: Marc and Sean Landwehr again fell just short, despite being level on points with their rivals. As was the case last month, their weaker record across the twelve individual matches in the six preliminary round fixtures proved decisive.
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“They stuck with us over the past few weeks when things weren’t going so well,” said captain Edmond Tapsoba, thanking the fans for their support after the 2–1 win in Cologne and dedicating the derby victory to them. Throughout the 90 minutes, the Werkself had looked unfazed and in command, inflicting the first home defeat of the season on FC Köln. It was the sixth consecutive win against the Cologne team for Bayer 04 – head coach Carles Martínez, on the other hand, was facing the team from the neighbouring city for the first time and “now really knows what this derby win means”. The Werkself derby review.
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Following the 2–1 derby victory away at FC Köln on Bundesliga matchday 9, Edmond Tapsoba, Malik Tillman and Aleix Garcia spoke to Werkself TV...
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Werkself TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04's 2-1 derby win at 1. FC Köln Matchday 9 of the 2026/27 Bundesliga season...
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There were celebrations among those in black and red at the RheinEnergieSTADION. On Matchday 9 of the 2026/27 Bundesliga season, the Werkself beat 1. FC Köln 2-0 and registered their sixth successive win in the derby. Aleix Garcia put Bayer 04 in front after just seven minutes with a direct free kick. Leverkusen played with discipline and energy after that and didn't allow some fierce challenges to unsettle them. Patrik Schick made it 2-0 in the 86th minute, and Said El Mala's goal in stoppage time for Köln proved nothing more than consolation. Jonas Hofmann crowned the derby win with his 100th appearance for the club.
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