There could hardly have been a better start to the new season in the Virtual Bundesliga (VBL) for the Black and Reds: A 5-2 win against Holstein Kiel was followed later on the evening by a 9-0 victory against Schalke 04. That means the Werkself eSports players are currently top of the North West division on 14 points.
Bayer 04's opponents Bochum and Hannover are next to each other in the table: VfL are currently seventh with seven points and Hannover 96 are in eighth place with one point less.
At the same time, the team from Lower Saxony have only played once. They had to be spectators on the second matchday due to the unequal number of teams. "They started well against Wolfsburg. There will be more tight and exciting clashes," warned Fabian ‘B04_DUBZJE’ de Cae, who started on Xbox and won both one-on-one encounters for openers.
All games involving the #B04eSports players will be streamed live as usual on the Bayer 04 Twitch channel.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen have appointed Carles Martínez Novell as the new head coach. The 42-year-old Spaniard worked for FC Toulouse in the French Ligue 1 until the end of the season. Martínez finished last term in ninth place with the club from the south of France. He will take over the Werkself on 1 July 2026 and has signed a contract to 30 June 2028. Martínez, whose contract with Toulouse expires at the end of the month, succeeds Kasper Hjulmand at Leverkusen, who is leaving the club after one season.
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Welcome to Leverkusen, Carles Martínez Novell. Bayer 04 have appointed the 42-year-old Spaniard as the new head coach on a contract to 2028. Martínez most recently worked for FC Toulouse in the French Ligue 1 until the end of the season. He previously spent four years at Barcelona's legendary academy La Masia in his home city. Bayer04.de introduces Martínez in more detail.
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Bayer 04 plans for the 2026/27 pre-season continue to take shape. The Werkself will kick off the new season in mid-July with the return to the training ground. The highlight will be the official season opener on 8 August at the BayArena, including a friendly against La Liga club Sevilla. Friendlies in Germany will take the team to neighbouring Monheim, Offenbach and Jena.
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Strengthening the Bayer 04 Leverkusen youth teams: Konstantinos Kotsifakis will join the Werkself from Bundesliga 2 club Hertha Berlin for the 2026/27 season, where he will be a permanent member of the Leverkusen U19 coaching set-up. The German-Greek will also take on an operational role in coaching the Bayer 04 Future Team. The 29-year-old was most recently head coach of the U17s at Hertha Berlin.
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Another award for the Bayer 04 head groundsman and staff: After coming top in the 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2024/25 seasons, the BayArena pitch came second in the Bundesliga Pitch of the Year ranking for the 2025/26 season. VfL Wolfsburg secured the top spot this year, with TSG Hoffenheim in third place.
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