Runners-up in last season's UEFA Europa League, Bayer Leverkusen return to the UEFA Champions League with a trip to Rotterdam to face Feyenoord.

The German side are making only their third appearance in eight seasons in the competition proper and are looking to build on their historic 2023/24 campaign in which they claimed the Bundesliga title – the first in club history – without losing a game and also lifted the DFB-Pokal. Leverkusen's sole defeat last season came at the hands of Atalanta in the Europa League final in their penultimate fixture.

Their Dutch hosts are making a second successive appearance in the Champions League proper – for the first time since 2002/03 – and are aiming to reach the knockout rounds for the first time.

Previous meetings

1987/88 UEFA Cup third round

Feyenoord 2-2 Bayer Leverkusen

Bayer Leverkusen 1-0 Feyenoord

The clubs' only previous meetings came in Leverkusen's victorious UEFA Cup campaign, the German side progressing despite letting slip a 2-0 lead in the first leg in Rotterdam. Falko Götz's 30th-minute strike proved enough for the home team in the Leverkusen return.

Form guide

Feyenoord

Record vs German clubs: W15 D10 L9 F55 A52

Home record vs German clubs: W11 D4 L2

Feyenoord's last meetings with a German club came in the 2021/22 UEFA Europa Conference League group stage, when they beat Union Berlin 3-1 at home and 2-1 away.

That made it four successive victories – and six games unbeaten (W5 D1) – against Bundesliga teams.

Feyenoord have won 11 of the 17 matches in Rotterdam, and also triumphed in the 2002 UEFA Cup final at their own stadium in which Bert van Marwijk's side overcame Matthias Sammer's Borussia Dortmund 3-2. The win against Union made it three in a row at home to German visitors.

The Rotterdammers are making their seventh appearance in the Champions League proper, appearing in the competition for successive seasons for the first time since 2002/03. This is only the third time they have featured in the last 22 campaigns.

European champions in 1970, Feyenoord have never reached the Champions League knockout rounds, although they did make it as far as the second group stage in 1999/2000.

In 2023/24, Feyenoord were third in Group E behind Atlético de Madrid and Lazio, winning two of their six games and losing the other four.

Arne Slot's side moved across to the Europa League but lasted a single tie in that competition, losing to Roma in the knockout round play-offs (1-1 h, 1-1 a aet, 2-4 pens).

That was the third successive season in which Feyenoord's European campaign had ended in defeat against the Italian side – a sequence that includes a 1-0 loss in Tirana in the inaugural Europa Conference League final in 2022.

A 1-3 defeat against Atlético de Madrid on Matchday 5 of last season's Champions League is Feyenoord's sole loss in their last 18 European fixtures in Rotterdam (W14 D3).

Champions of the Netherlands for the 16th time in 2022/23, Feyenoord were second in 2023/24, seven points behind PSV Eindhoven – although their final tally of 84 points was two more than when they had taken the title in the previous season.

The Rotterdam club did take the Dutch Cup for the 14th time, and the first since 2017/18, last season, beating NEC Nijmegen 1-0 in the final.

Slot departed for Liverpool in the summer, Feyenoord appointing Sparta Praha coach Brian Priske as his successor.

Leverkusen

Record vs Dutch clubs: W3 D3 L3 F10 A7

Away record vs Dutch clubs: W0 D3 L0

This is the first time Die Werkself have faced a Dutch side since the 1994/95 UEFA Cup third round, when they beat PSV 5-4 in the home first leg and on aggregate. They had defeated Twente in the first round of the same competition in 1990/91 (1-0 h, 1-1 a).

Leverkusen have therefore drawn all three games in Netherlands, winning all three home matches against Eredivisie sides.

Leverkusen are featuring in the Champions League proper for the 14th time – although only the third in eight seasons.

Their most recent campaign came in 2022/23, when they were third in their section behind Porto and Club Brugge, moving into the Europa League – where they went on to reach the semi-finals before losing 1-0 on aggregate against Roma.

Xabi Alonso's side went one step further in last season's Europa League, finishing first in their section with maximum points before battling past Qarabağ (5-4 on aggregate), West Ham (3-1 agg) and Roma (4-2 agg) to reach the final. Atalanta proved too strong in Dublin, however, running out 3-0 winners to dent Leverkusen the chance to add to their 1988 UEFA Cup triumph.

The 1-0 loss at Roma in the 2022/23 Europa League semi-final first leg is the German side's only defeat in their last 11 European away games (W7 D3).

That defeat against Atalanta was Leverkusen's only loss in their 53 games in all competitions last season – 43 of those victories.

Alonso guided Die Werkself to a first ever Bundesliga title, his side finishing 17 points clear at the top, and also oversaw a 1-0 win against Kaiserslautern in the German Cup final as Leverkusen claimed that trophy for only the second time.

Leverkusen have not reached the Champions League knockout rounds since 2016/17.

Links and trivia

Have played together:

Bart Nieuwkoop & Victor Boniface (Union Saint-Gilloise 2022/23)

International team-mates:

Quinten Timber, Calvin Stengs, Justin Bijlow & Jeremie Frimpong (Netherlands)

Jordan Lotomba & Granit Xhaka (Switzerland)

Frimpong was born in Amsterdam but has never played for a Dutch club, joining Manchester City aged nine.

Latest news

Feyenoord

Feyenoord have won one of their first four Eredivisie games, 5-1 at Zwolle on 18 August. They also draw 1-1 at home to Willem II in their season opener on 10 August and at Sparta on 25 August.

On Saturday, Feyenoord conceded twice in the final ten minutes to let slip a two-goal lead at promoted Groningen and draw 2-2.

The Rotterdam club are unbeaten in the Eredivisie since a 1-2 loss at home to eventual champions PSV Eindhoven on 3 December; their record since is W17 D7.

Feyenoord's last defeat in all competitions was the 1-2 loss at Celtic on Matchday 6 of the 2023/24 UEFA Champions League. They are unbeaten in their subsequent 30 games, winning 21.

The home match against Ajax, scheduled for 1 September, was postponed.

Antoni Milambo made his Netherlands Under-21 debut in a 5-0 2025 UEFA European Championship win at home to North Macedonia on 5 September.

Quinten Timber won his second and third Netherlands caps in UEFA Nations League games against Bosnia and Herzegovina (5-2) and Germany (2-2) on 7 and 10 September respectively. He played alongside brother Jurriën in both matches; the pair were the first siblings to represent the Oranje since Frank and Ronald de Boer in 2003.

Gernot Trauner, who had not played since suffering a thigh injury in Austria's 3-1 group win against Poland at UEFA EURO 2024 on 21 June, returned in a friendly against Feyenoord's Under-21 team on 4 September and came on at half-time on Saturday.

Midfielder Calvin Stengs underwent knee surgery at the end of August.

Hugo Bueno has not played since 18 August due to a muscle injury.

Leverkusen

Xabi Alonso's side have two wins and a defeat from their first three games in this season's Bundesliga.

Victor Boniface scored twice in a 4-1 victory at Hoffenheim on Saturday, also setting up Martin Terrier's opener – the Frenchman's first goal for the club.

Florian Wirtz scored Leverkusen's third from the penalty spot, making it three goals in as many games in this season's Bundesliga.

On 23 August Leverkusen won 3-2 at Borussia Mönchengladbach, letting slip a 2-0 lead before Wirtz's added-time winner, his second goal of the game.

Eight days later the German champions succumbed 3-2 to Leipzig, a game in which they had also led 2-0.

The loss against Leipzig was Bayer's first league defeat since 27 May 2023 and ended a 35-match unbeaten Bundesliga run.

A Jonas Hofmann goal gave holders Leverkusen a 1-0 victory at fourth-tier Jena in the German Cup first round on 28 August.

On 17 August Leverkusen prevailed 4-3 after penalties in the German Super Cup against Stuttgart – their first win in the competition in their second appearance. Boniface scored the opener before Patrik Schick rescued a late 2-2 draw for ten-men Leverkusen after new signing Terrier had been sent off late in the first half.

On 5 September Granit Xhaka was sent off in Switzerland's 0-2 UEFA Nations League loss in Denmark.

Wirtz was on target in Germany's 5-0 win against Hungary on 7 September.

Exequiel Palacios has not played this season due to a knee injury.

Robert Andrich signed a contract extension until 2028 on 16 August.