The line-up is not only unusual but also reads like a Who's Who from the recent Werkself past. Bernd Schneider, Oliver Neuville, Simon Rolfes, Markus Happe, Boris Zivkovic and Marko Babic – honorary captains, Champions League finalists, crowd favourites, famous names in the history of the Black and Reds. They will all be wearing Bayer 04 shirts again on 2 December for the veterans game against Borussia Dortmund. As with the last match against FC Köln ahead of the Bundesliga derby, this meeting with Dortmund, kicking off at 13.30 CET at the Haberland Stadium, will be broadcast live on Facebook.
"We have an especially illustrious line-up for the game against BVB," said Dirk Dreher, general manager of the Veterans team, "It's incredible if you count up all the international caps the lads collected during their professional careers." And Dortmund are also likely to appear with a number of familiar faces – in the last fixture between the two teams a year ago their eleven included Frank Mill, David Odonkor and Knut Reinhardt – , so a visit to the Haberland Stadium will definitely serve to whet the appetite ahead of the Bundesliga clash against Borussia Dortmund (kick-off, 15.30 CET). Bayer 04 and Borussia will play a 60-minute game before watching the pros match at the BayArena.
Friday in Maastricht
The game against the black and yellows of Borussia will be the final match of the year and this Friday sees the final away trip in 2017 for the Leverkusen Old Boys with a visit to Holland. The veterans are in action in against their opposite numbers at Maastricht at 17.30 CET. The game has been organised by former Bayer 04 striker Erik Meijer who is the attacking coach at Maastricht. Afterwards the first team have a Jupiler League fixture against Helmond Sport in the second tier of Dutch football.
Bayer 04 have fond memories of their encounters with Heidenheim, including a resounding 6-0 win in the reverse fixture. Kasper Hjulmand’s side would very much like to produce a similarly clinical display as they now head to the Voith-Arena for Matchday 27 on Saturday (15:30 CET). But they come up against a team fighting for their Bundesliga lives at the bottom of the table, 10 points adrift of safety with time running out. Here’s all you need to know ahead of the game in our matchday news.
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The Bayer 04 Women welcome FC Carl Zeiss Jena to the Ulrich Haberland Stadium on Sunday night in a white retro look - and in a unique Bayer 04 ‘50 Years of Fan Clubs’ special edition jersey. In sporting terms, head coach Roberto Pätzold's team will face the Bundesliga's bottom team at 18:30 CET looking to keep their chances of third place in the table alive with six games left to play.
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Bayer 04 return to Bundesliga action this weekend. Following their elimination in the Round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League, the Werkself are away to FC Heidenheim 1846 on Saturday, 21 March (kick-off: 15:30 CET) on Bundesliga matchday 27. Ahead of the clash in the eastern Swabian Alps, head coach Kasper Hjulmand spoke about the importance of the fixture and the chances of qualifying for the Champions League next term.
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A quick look at the table shows the situation at FC Heidenheim is serious. The Bundesliga bottom club are already ten points behind the play-off spot with their backs to the wall in sporting terms. With eight games left to play, avoiding relegation appears to be a mission impossible. Nevertheless, they are far from flying the white flag at the Schlossberg ahead of the clash with the Werkself this Saturday, 21 March (kick-off: 15:30 CET). The lowdown on our next opponents.
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen will have to manage without the two strikers in the immediate future. Caroline Kehrer suffered a torn ligament in her right knee and Amy Wrigge tore her cruciate ligament.
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