After the hard-fought 3-2 away win at SC Freiburg on matchday one in the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga and the comfortable progress to the DFB Pokal Round of 16, Pätzold is full of anticipation for his first home game as the Leverkusen coach at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium: "We are looking forward to finally being able to show what we can do with the home atmosphere, in front of our fans and families," said the 45 year-old: "The pitch and the facilities in and around the UHS are outstanding and everything is set up for us to be able to play a good first home game."
The challenge facing the Werkself in this mission is big as the Eagles, whose additions in the summer include former Bayer 04 captain Elisa Senß, finished third in the table last season.
The Leverkusen coach, who expects to face a well-organised Frankfurt side, sees the game as "a first chance to see how far we can go this season" and he is looking to build on the style of play developed over the preseason: "We will try to put them under pressure, force them into making errors and play with the right mentality."
This could be a very special game for the Eintracht midfielder sense Senß. The Germany international returns to the first match at Leverkusen after two years at Bayer 04. Shortly before kick-off, Senß will be presented with the trophy as the winner of the vote for Bayer 04 Women's team Player of the Season 2023/24.
For the meeting with the team from Hessen, who missed out on qualifying for the group stage of the UEFA Women's Champions League last week after a 2-0 defeat against Sporting CF, and this week clocked up a 10-0 win against FFV Erfurt in the second round of the DFB Pokal, the Bayer 04 Women's team will again have to manage without Charlotte Voll, Melissa Friedrich (both training deficit), Paulina Bartz (illness), Sofie Zdebel and Loreen Bender (both at U20 World Cup).
Under the motto ‘Gemeinsam: Gutes Spiel’ (Together: Good game) Bayer 04 are sending out a message for sustainability as part of the DFB campaign matchday. In joint action, the clubs in the third tier and the Women's Bundesliga are standing up to their commitment to society, responsible management and the protection of the planet. All holders of tickets for the game at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium will be supporting a good cause on Sunday: Bayer 04 will donate two euros per ticket sold to the Leverkusen Women's Emergency Line, who will have an information stand at the stadium.
Tickets for the game can be bought HERE online or from the ticket office on the day of the match. This season, for the first time, there will be allocated seats, which are shown on the tickets. As usual, the match will be broadcast live by the streaming services MagentaSport and DAZN.
“Year after year, this is an incredibly valuable gathering, both in terms of the content covered and the opportunity for mutual discussion,” stressed Bayer 04 goalkeeping coach David Thiel in his welcoming address at this year’s goalkeeping coaches’ meeting. This was the third time in four seasons that the event had been held at the BayArena. Organised by the German Football Association (DFB), the meeting brought together goalkeeping coaches from the Bundesliga, Bundesliga 2 and the 3rd division from the west region. For the first time this year, goalkeeping coaches from the youth performance centres (NLZ) were also present. Bayer 04 fitness coach Markus Müller provided fascinating insights into the specific fitness training carried out with the Werkself’s goalkeepers.
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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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