Leverkusen host Hamburg on Saturday in their final home game of the season, and the BayArena will look different for more than one reason. The Nordkurve12 fan group has revived its Finally Red campaign for the last home matches, urging supporters to arrive in red and turn the stands into one united show of backing for the team.
It is also the last game in which food and drink will be provided by Bayer Gastronomie after three decades, with the company discounting almost all products by €1.50 for the occasion. The match comes just over eight years after HSV last played at the BayArena, when Kevin Volland scored twice in a 3-0 Leverkusen win that extended the home run against the northern club to six victories in a row.
On the field, Leverkusen still have something concrete to chase. They need a win on Saturday and then need Stuttgart and Hoffenheim to both lose away to Frankfurt and Borussia Mönchengladbach if they are to keep their hopes alive. Hamburg, meanwhile, arrive with a second Bundesliga season already secured after a 2-1 win in Frankfurt, followed by a 3-2 home victory over Freiburg, and they are expected to use the afternoon for a final outing for Luka Vuskovic and Fabio Vieira.
The fixture has already been pushed around once. The original January meeting was postponed because of heavy snow in Hamburg, and the reverse game in March produced a narrow Leverkusen win at the Volksparkstadion, where Christian Kofane scored the only goal. Patrik Schick did not play that day, but his scoring record underlines why he remains a threat: he has found the net against all 25 clubs he has faced in the Bundesliga.
Referee Tobias Stieler will oversee the match, with Mark Borsch and Lasse Koslowski as assistants and Matthias Jöllenbeck on VAR duty. Stieler has taken charge of 34 Bayer 04 matches, from which Leverkusen have won 27, and they have lost only once in 19 home games under him.
The broader club picture is shifting as well. Anne Moll is due to leave Bayer 04 Leverkusen when her contract expires on 30 June and join VfL Bochum 1848, while Kristin Kögel will play her final match for Bayer 04 Women on Sunday against SV Werder Bremen after six years in Leverkusen. Exequiel Palacios, who has been in the city since 2020, said in a digital media round ahead of the close of the 2025/26 season and the World Cup with Argentina that the current Werkself squad has “great development potential.”
That is the thread running through Saturday: a final home game, a fan farewell, a kitchen handover and a team still trying to force one more meaningful result out of the season. For Leverkusen, the margin is thin. For the BayArena, the afternoon carries the feel of an ending and the possibility of one more loud chapter before the summer settles in.
