Bayer Leverkusen crest

Bayer Leverkusen

Value$497MHeartbreak#8511.9

Leverkusen, Rhine-Ruhr · Germany · Bundesliga

League titles
1
last 2024
Major cups
4
last 2024
Top-2 finishes
7
Top-4 finishes
18

Power-ranking history

Rank (1 = best)1140Score (per-season normalised)0.00.51.079/8084/8589/9094/9599/0004/0509/1014/1519/2024/25

Against expectation

Every German top-flight match this club has played in the Bundesliga, scored against the odds an Elo rating gave it before kick-off. Over 46 seasons from 1979-80 to 2024-25 it has beaten them by +27.8 match points.

1979-80 to 2024-25one bar per season · height in match points

Best season against expectation
2023-24 +26.9 league pts
90 points on 63.1 expected as Bayer Leverkusen
Worst season against expectation
2002-03 −14.7 league pts
40 points on 54.7 expected as Bayer Leverkusen

Season points use that season’s own scoring, two for a win before 1995-96 and three from it; the bars use match points so the whole series is comparable. Played as SV Bayer 04 Leverkusen, then Bayer Leverkusen.

1991-92 table not final: source truncated on 1992-04-25, last 4 matchdays absent, 340 of 380.

Rhine-Ruhr against expectation →How this is measured →

Title chances

This side's chance in each title race we forecast, frozen and scored like every forecast here.

Full odds: Bundesliga · Europa League · every title race

What the squad was worth

Total market value of the squad, EUR millions, by month; the player count beside it is the size of the priced squad.

How this is measured

Drawn as a step, not a curve: Transfermarkt reprices every squad in December and June (marked with a small tick on the axis) and revalues continuously between, so the line only moves when a real valuation changed, never by interpolation.

A month renders no value at all once the priced squad falls below 15 players, so a thin squad is never shown as a cheap one. The series is floored at July 2012 on purpose: earlier Transfermarkt totals reflect which players happened to be priced yet rather than the squad’s real worth, and are excluded rather than shown misleadingly low.

Upstream (dcaribou/transfermarkt-datasets) has been paused since July 2026, so the series ends where the source ends rather than where the season does.

Player valuations from Transfermarkt via github.com/dcaribou/transfermarkt-datasets (CC0).

What the squad was worth€439m
035070012-1314-1516-1718-1920-2122-2324-25

Peak
€649m in May 2024 · 27 players valued
Most recent
€439m in Jun 2026 · 27 players valued

Rhine-Ruhr on the rankings →

Who controls the club

The entity that holds control today, one per franchise; co-controllers and minority holders are listed, never summed.

How this is measured

Exactly one control entity is recorded per franchise, so a portfolio can never count a club twice. Co-controllers and minority holders are shown as published and carry no weight in any total.

The chip names the evidence. Sourced: a primary source is linked (league, club, filing or tier-one outlet). Cross-checked: matched against the ownership-change sweep. Contested: disputed or mid-sale. Rows are reviewed weekly.

Stakes are as published, often only “majority”, and are not pro-rated. A record of control is not a claim about anyone’s intent or conduct.

Who controls the clubBayer AG
Bayer AGcorporate· 100%
Cross-checkedas of 24 Sep 2026

A 'Werksverein' (works club) exempted from the Bundesliga's 50+1 member-control rule; wholly owned by the pharmaceutical company Bayer AG.

Bayer AG on the owners board →

The money ledger

Fees paid and received each season, and what the squad was worth once the trading is netted out.

How this is measured

Spent is the fees paid for players arriving, received the fees for players leaving, both in EUR millions by the July-to-June season of the move. A move with no fee on record (a free, a loan, an undisclosed sum) is counted, never priced: the small figure beside each total is the moves with a fee, plus those without (so 4+3 is four priced arrivals and three unpriced), and a quiet window is not mistaken for a cheap one. Wages are not here: they are estimates nobody licenses, and fees are documented.

Appreciation is the season’s change in squad value with the net spend taken out: buy 100m of players and finish 100m higher is zero; finish 120m higher and the club made 20m of players better, or the market repriced them. It needs a priced squad at both ends of the season (the same 15-player floor as the value chart), so it is blank rather than guessed for a season that lacks one.

The source has been paused since 6 July 2026, so the final row holds only the opening days of its window.

Transfer fees and player valuations from Transfermarkt via github.com/dcaribou/transfermarkt-datasets (CC0).

The money ledger−€32m
Spent
€783m
68 arrivals with a fee
Received
€752m
43 departures with a fee
Net
−€32m
154 moves with no fee
Appreciation
+€131m
14 seasons with a priced squad

Grown or bought: in 2026-27, trading +€44m and appreciation —. Over the last 5 seasons (2022-23–2026-27), trading +€25m and appreciation unpriced.

The director’s ledger: 67 arrivals graded since 2022-23, 2 ungraded, 81% EV-positive. €362m deployed for a 1.1× multiplier.

2026-27 spent €13m received €57mto 6 July 2026
in: Kerim Alajbegovic €8m
—
unpriced
2025-26 spent €198m received €227m
in: Malik Tillman €35m
−€131m
squad gain
2024-25 spent €53m received €28m
in: Martin Terrier €20m
−€75m
squad gain
2023-24 spent €83m received €69m
in: Nathan Tella €23m
+€192m
squad gain
2022-23 spent €15m received €7m
in: Adam Hlozek €13m
−€12m
squad gain
2021-22 spent €55m received €43m
in: Odilon Kossounou €23m
+€57m
squad gain
2020-21 spent €41m received €111m
in: Patrik Schick €27m
+€48m
squad gain
2019-20 spent €100m received €34m
in: Kerem Demirbay €32m
−€97m
squad gain

Money against football

Every priced club-season in the six leagues: points against expectation across, squad value gained beyond the net spend up. This club’s seasons are joined.

● the frontier: no other club-season beat it on both axes · ● this club, season by season, the largest dot the latest

Every club’s return on the transfer window →

Greatest games

Bayer Leverkusen's top matches by the club Game Score: closeness, stakes, quality and upset over one unified rating of league and European play. H, A and N mark home, away and a neutral venue; a ★ is a curated all-time classic (tap it for the model's own score).All-time board.

1
2002-05-15 · Champions League · Final
84.9
game score
2
2002-04-30 · Champions League · Semifinals · 2nd leg, agg 3-3
79.2
game score
3
2002-04-09 · Champions League · Quarterfinals · 2nd leg, agg 4-3
78.2
game score
4
1995-04-04 · UEFA Cup · Semifinals · 1st leg
74.8
game score
5
2001-05-05 · Bundesliga
72.9
game score
6
2002-04-03 · Champions League · Quarterfinals · 1st leg
72.1
game score
7
2001-10-31 · Champions League · First Group Stage · 2nd leg, agg 3-4
71.7
game score
8
2000-09-27 · Champions League · First Group Stage · 1st leg
69.2
game score
9
1994-03-15 · Cup Winners' Cup · Quarterfinals · 2nd leg, agg 5-5
68.9
game score
10
Dynamo Kyiv
2004-12-08 · Champions League · Group Stage · 2nd leg, agg 5-4
68.4
game score

Footprint

Tiers played
L1
Top-flight (L1) seasons
48
First season
1980
Most recent season
2026

The Heartbreak Index1.9 · #851

The Blessed · Major trophy, 2024

1.9
Heartbreak
#851
of 1,138 clubs
#563
in Football
1.9
agony
The clocks
  • Major trophy since 20240.2
  • Major final appearance since 20240.1
  • League title since 20240.0
Heaviest wounds

lost the European Cup final, 2002 · lost the Europa League final, 2024 · lost the national cup final, 2020 · league runner-up, 2025

One formula, every club the site covers. See the whole board →

YouTube

+1,008,327
views gained since 23 Oct 2026
+1,000
subscribers gained since 23 Oct 2026

Open the official channel on YouTube

Calculated by Citizen of Nowhere from YouTube channel statistics, as of 2 Nov 2026. Not part of the Fan Attention Index. Not ranked.

Data from YouTube API Services · YouTube Terms of Service · How we use YouTube data

Season-by-season

Most recent season first. Covers Bundesliga only. Rows tagged "national playoff" are pre-modern formats where the workbook records only playoff participants, not round-robin standings.

2027
Bundesliga (1) · P6● live
8 P · 4-1-3 · 18:16 · +2
13
pts
2026
Bundesliga (1) · P6
34 P · 17-8-9 · 68:47 · +21
59
pts
CLEL
2025
Bundesliga (1) · P2
34 P · 19-12-3 · 72:43 · +29
69
pts
CLCL
2024
Bundesliga (1) · P1★
34 P · 28-6-0 · 89:24 · +65
90
pts
PokalELCL
2023
Bundesliga (1) · P6
34 P · 14-8-12 · 57:49 · +8
50
pts
CLELEL
2022
Bundesliga (1) · P3
34 P · 19-7-8 · 80:47 · +33
64
pts
ELCL
2021
Bundesliga (1) · P6
34 P · 14-10-10 · 53:39 · +14
52
pts
ELEL
2020
Bundesliga (1) · P5
34 P · 19-6-9 · 61:44 · +17
63
pts
PokalCLELEL
2019
Bundesliga (1) · P4
34 P · 18-4-12 · 69:52 · +17
58
pts
ELCL
2018
Bundesliga (1) · P5
34 P · 15-10-9 · 58:44 · +14
55
pts
EL
2017
Bundesliga (1) · P12
34 P · 11-8-15 · 53:55 · -2
41
pts
CL
2016
Bundesliga (1) · P3
34 P · 18-6-10 · 56:40 · +16
60
pts
CLELCL
Domestic Cup Finals

Most recent first. Every domestic cup final the club has played, including losses. Scheduled finals (date not yet passed) are flagged.

2024
DFB-Pokal
Won
2024
DFL-Supercup
Won
2020
DFB-Pokal
Runner-up
2009
DFB-Pokal
Runner-up
2002
DFB-Pokal
Runner-up
1993
DFB-Pokal
Won
1993
DFL-Supercup
Runner-up
European competition appearances

Most recent first. One row per entry showing the deepest round reached. A Cup Winner badge marks tournaments the club won: gold for the European Cup / Champions League, silver for every other UEFA or Intercontinental trophy.

2025-26
Champions League(CL)
Round of 16
2024-25
Champions League(CL)
Round of 16
2023-24
Europa League(EL)
Final
2022-23
Champions League(CL)
Group stage
2022-23
Europa League(EL)
Semi-final
2021-22
Europa League(EL)
Round of 16
2020-21
Europa League(EL)
Group stage
2019-20
Champions League(CL)
Group stage
2019-20
Europa League(EL)
Quarter-final
2018-19
Europa League(EL)
Group stage
2016-17
Champions League(CL)
Round of 16
2015-16
Champions League(CL)
Group stage