Wednesday 14 October 2026: Flag theft at women’s football match, another goalless home draw in the Champions League, no offer on the table in metal industry pay negotiations

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Is the women’s football ultra scene supporting RB Leipzig II’s regional league side now set to disband? The police are investigating following the theft of a flag at a Saxony Cup match in Leutzsch. The culprit: a man. Fame factor: zero. Speaking of zero: that’s a constant for the RB men’s team, at least in their home matches. Even PSV Eindhoven couldn’t change that in yesterday’s Champions League match. Incidentally, the first round of collective bargaining in the metal and electrical industry also yielded zero results. The LZ summarises what was important in Leipzig and beyond on Wednesday, 14 October 2026.

Flag theft at a women’s football match

Just how much fame will this ‘bold’ stunt bring in the fan scene? An act that is absolutely uncharacteristic of the local women’s football scene has now led to a police manhunt. Ten days ago, on 4 October, BSG Chemie and defending champions RB Leipzig II faced off in the round of 16 of the Saxony Women’s Cup. On a side pitch at the Alfred-Kunze-Sportpark, a fourth-division side took on a third-division side on a Sunday afternoon in front of 95 spectators.

The favourites, the visiting team, took a clear 6–1 victory back to Cottaweg and have thus progressed to the quarter-finals. What remained at Leutzscher Holz, however, were two fence banners belonging to the RBL fans, each measuring three metres by 80 centimetres. The police estimate their financial value at around 100 euros. It comes as a surprise that the unsavoury practice of flag theft is now also being seen in women’s football. Unfortunately, it is hardly surprising that it was a man who committed this theft.

The Leipzig Police Headquarters is now trying to identify exactly who is responsible. Today, it published a description of the as yet unknown suspect, asking for any relevant information. According to the description, the police are looking for a young man believed to be aged between 18 and 25, with dark hair and a thin moustache. Among other things, he was wearing black trousers.

RB Leipzig: Another clean sheet at home against Eindhoven

RB Leipzig’s footballers remain unbeaten at home this season. Following three Bundesliga victories against Borussia Mönchengladbach (3–0), Hamburger SV (5–0) and Eintracht Frankfurt (6–0), the Rasenballer also left the pitch at the RB Arena with a clean sheet following their 1–0 victory in the Champions League match against PSV Eindhoven. Late on Tuesday evening, Brajan Gruda scored the decisive goal in the 75th minute. Earlier, RB goalkeeper Maarten Vandevoordt had saved a handball penalty in the first half.

Away from home, however, things have been anything but successful for manager Martin Demichelis’s side. Their Bundesliga matches so far in Bremen (1–3) and Leverkusen (0–2) were both lost, as was their Champions League opener in Como (1–4). RBL now face two (extremely) tough away fixtures: this coming Saturday, 17 October, they travel to face FC Bayern Munich in the league – and just four days later, on 21 October, the Champions League showdown at Real Madrid is on the agenda.

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Metal and electrical industry: First round of collective bargaining ends in a stalemate

The first round of collective bargaining for workers in the metal and electrical industry in Saxony has concluded in Chemnitz without any offer from the employers. IG Metall is now calling for concrete proposals for an agreement in the near future. The start of the talks was disappointing, said Jan Otto, regional director of IG Metall Berlin-Brandenburg-Saxony and chief negotiator for Saxony.

The union is demanding a five per cent pay rise for the approximately 155,000 workers in Saxony, to be valid for a period of twelve months. It also wishes to negotiate on safeguarding jobs and sites, a collectively agreed profit-sharing scheme for employees and apprentices, and a social component to improve incomes in lower pay bands. Ahead of the start of negotiations, well over 100 employees from the region had staged a protest to emphasise their demands.

IG Metall justifies its demand for a significant pay rise, amongst other things, by citing sharp price increases. At the same time, Otto pointed to signs of an economic recovery and, for the most part, significantly revised-up growth forecasts from the economic institutes. Employers must therefore make concessions and take responsibility. The second round of collective bargaining for Saxony is scheduled for 27 October in Dresden.

What the LZ reported on today:

Leipzig’s groundwater levels: the long-term trend is downwards

Hello Leipzig: How Wednesday, 14 October 2026 begins

Moon labyrinth: With André Schinkel through the landscapes along the Saale, Mulde and Ararat

Saxony government’s wind power decree: VEE warns against sending the wrong signal at the wrong time

Funding for Leipzig University: Centre for Comparative GDR and Transformation Research launches

What else was important:

In the Albanian capital, Tirana, student protests against grievances in the higher education system have escalated violently. Following hours of rioting, 40 people were taken into custody today and 13 were injured.

The Federal Cabinet has adopted a policy paper on social media restrictions to improve the protection of children and young people online. This comprises twelve individual measures, such as age limits or an ‘AI Seepferdchen’ scheme. However, this is initially only a declaration of intent and does not yet constitute a concrete legislative proposal.

The opposition television channel “Halk TV” was raided by security forces in Turkey this morning and placed under compulsory administration. Live broadcasting was interrupted. The opposition-aligned news agency Anka cites as the reason for this raid a public prosecutor’s investigation into the company’s CEO, Cafer Mahiroglu, who is accused of bribery, tender fraud and money laundering. He dismisses the allegations as “baseless”.