
For the Bundesliga home match against Eintracht Frankfurt on 19 October, the German champions and DFB Pokal winners are adapting the branding in all relevant areas of the BayArena, the Ulrich Haberland Stadium and the Kurtekotten performance centre to the new BarmeniaGothaer brand. Only the Barmenia lettering on the jerseys of the Werkself players and all other teams under the cross will remain as it is until the end of the 2024/25 season.
In the BayArena and the other Bayer 04 properties, on the other hand, the new brand identity of the main sponsor will be adopted promptly, both digitally and in conventional static presentation. Whether in digital perimeter advertising, at Stadium Vision or in the press conferences, on sponsor boards, substitutes‘ benches, in the mixed zone, on car park signs, entrance pillars, flagpoles or the team bus - the BarmeniaGothaer logo will be present everywhere from 19 October. Bayer 04's print products and digital channels will already support the new corporate identity from 8 October.
The close cooperation and joint focus of BarmeniaGothaer and Bayer 04 Leverkusen will remain unchanged. A successful and trusting partnership that has existed since 2016 and that will continue until at least 2028.

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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