Bayer 04 Leverkusen

Bayer 04 Leverkusen, based at the BayArena in Leverkusen with a capacity of 30,210, won the Bundesliga title in 2023-24 without losing a single league match, the first unbeaten Bundesliga season in the competition’s history.

The 2023-24 campaign under Xabi Alonso was not just historic; it was the argument against the idea that Bayern Munich’s dominance was structural. Leverkusen finished with 90 points, 6 points ahead of Stuttgart, and went 51 competitive matches without defeat across the Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal, and Europa League before losing in the Europa League final to Atalanta 3-0. They also won the DFB-Pokal to complete the domestic double. The unbeaten run ended in the worst possible way, in a European final on May 22, 2024, but the domestic achievement remained intact.

Xabi Alonso was the most sought-after manager in European football following that season. He rejected multiple approaches from clubs including Liverpool to remain at Leverkusen. That decision, to stay at a club playing in front of 30,000 rather than move to a major European operation, was treated in Germany as a statement of project over prestige.

Granit Xhaka, who rebuilt his career at Leverkusen after leaving Arsenal under difficult circumstances, was the midfield engine of the unbeaten season, covering distance and providing vertical passes that activated Florian Wirtz’s creative quality. Wirtz, at 21, is the most technically gifted German midfielder since Mesut Özil and the primary reason every major European club has a scout watching Leverkusen home games.

When does Bayer Leverkusen play? Bundesliga matches at the BayArena are typically 15:30 or 18:30 CET (UTC+1) on Saturdays. Leverkusen is 25 kilometres south of Cologne. A 15:30 CET kickoff means 14:30 GMT in London, 09:30 ET in New York. Check Cologne time for local conversions. Full Bundesliga schedule available.