Bayer 04 Leverkusen Tickets 2026/27 — Bundesliga at the BayArena

Leverkusen is the most relaxed Bundesliga trip in the Rhineland. The BayArena holds a little over 30,000, matches rarely sell out completely, and Cologne's main station is fifteen minutes away by S-Bahn. If you want German top-flight football without planning months ahead, this is where to start.

Bayer 04 Leverkusen tickets 2026/27: seventeen home fixtures

For Bundesliga home matches at the BayArena we sell official tickets — Leverkusen is one of the few German clubs where that applies. Choose the Ticket Combo, which pairs your seat with something to do locally, or the travel package with a hotel if you are staying over.

The season brings seventeen home matches in the Bundesliga, plus a European campaign in the Europa League.

The Werkself: a club founded by employees

Bayer 04 carries that name because it was founded in 1904 by workers at the Bayer chemical plant — a sports club for the workforce that grew into a Bundesliga side. The nickname Werkself, the works eleven, is therefore a statement of origin rather than an insult.

It still shapes the club. Leverkusen is not a mass-movement institution but an exceptionally well-run side in a town of 170,000. That is exactly why tickets are easier here — and why this works as a Bundesliga match for a first-time visitor or a family.

From "Vizekusen" to unbeaten champions

Few clubs carry a nickname that stings like this one. For decades Bayer 04 finished second — most painfully in 2002, when the team lost out in the Bundesliga, the German Cup and the Champions League final in a single season. "Vizekusen", roughly "runner-up-kusen", stuck.

It ended in 2024, and emphatically: Leverkusen won the first championship in the club's history unbeaten, the first side ever to do so in the Bundesliga. Walk into the BayArena today and that season is still in the walls.

Tickets for the Rhine derby against Köln

The fixture of the year is the neighbourhood match: Bayer 04 Leverkusen against 1. FC Köln on 13 March 2027. For Leverkusen it is the match against the big neighbour; for Cologne it is the match against the works club — each side has its own version. See the 1. FC Köln page.

The second Rhineland fixture is against Borussia Mönchengladbach on 5 December 2026, see Borussia Mönchengladbach.

Bayern and Dortmund at the BayArena

The two biggest visitors come in spring: Bayer 04 against Borussia Dortmund on 3 April 2027 and against Bayern Munich on 15 May 2027 — the latter on the final matchday, which in some seasons gives it real weight. Club pages: Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich.

Earlier in the season come Bayer 04 against RB Leipzig on 20 September 2026 and against VfB Stuttgart on 31 October 2026 — see VfB Stuttgart.

The BayArena: small, covered, loud

The ground opened in 1958 and was called the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion until 1998, after a former chairman of the plant. The last major rebuild was in 2009.

It is a football-only stadium with no running track, and the oval roof traps the sound — which makes the BayArena louder than its 30,200 seats suggest. The home end is the Nordkurve; away supporters are housed in the south. For the best overview, take the middle of the east stand; for noise, the north.

Getting there: fifteen minutes from Cologne

Leverkusen sits between Cologne and Düsseldorf, and both work better as a base than the town itself — more hotels, more to do in the evening, the same journey time. From Cologne main station the S-Bahn reaches Leverkusen Mitte in around fifteen minutes; from there it is a fifteen-minute walk to the ground, or a shuttle bus on matchdays.

Cologne is a direct train from Amsterdam and Brussels and a short flight from the Nordic capitals, Dublin and the UK. There is also a hotel directly at the arena — the shortest possible journey if you want it simple.

Ticket Combo or travel package

The Ticket Combo pairs your seat with something on the ground — usually a BayArena stadium tour taking in the players' tunnel, the dressing room and the view from the dugout, or a programme in nearby Cologne. The travel package adds the hotel.

Tell us which home fixture you want and whether you would rather stay in Leverkusen, Cologne or Düsseldorf, and we will put it together.