
Four and a half months after the Grand Final, where ‘DETO’ was named best PlayStation player of the year, started the 2020/21 VBL season on Monday night. For the opening fixture, Bayer 04, as yet without the new duo Anna Klink and Marc Landwehr, faced Holstein Kiel in the North-West section.
‘DETO’ was keen to get on the attack against Kiel’s Cihat ‘CIHAT6161’ Korkmaz in a one-on-one on PlayStation 4 and he was awarded a penalty on five virtual minutes. The two-time world champion missed the spot kick but shortly after that he took an early lead through Moussa Diaby (12’). After an equaliser from Korkmaz (32’), ‘DETO’ restored the lead through youngster Samed Onur (48’). The second youth player in Wollin’s two-man attack, Yannick Schlößer, sealed the result in the closing stages (85’). Karim Bellarabi rounded off the scoring with a penalty on 90 minutes to pick up their first three points.
“We’ve trained very hard and intensively for weeks, so it’s great to start with a win on matchday one,” said Wollin after the opening victory, “I’m happy but, of course, there’s room for improvement. It was important to pick up the points first time out.”
And Fabian ‘B04_DUBZJE’ De Cae carried on in his individual match on Xbox, where ‘DETO’ had left off: Against Holstein-eSports player Benedict ‘B3NN1FIFA’ Ratzlaff, the Leverkusen player netted three times with the virtual Schlößer and goal number four was scored by Onur. Two 4-1 scorelines in the individual games for Bayer 04 for starters. “We’ve never started a season as well before,” said De Cae.
The narrow 4-3 defeat in the doubles game did slightly detract from the positive mood in the end but the Werkself eSports players were able to celebrate one or two triumphs on the console later on.
Late in the evening, there were clashes with VfL Wolfsburg. ‘DETO’ again started with an individual match where the Leverkusen player drew 1-1 with Timo ‘TIMOX’ Siep. ‘B04_DUBZJE’ came out on top with a 4-3 win in a one-on-one game against Benedikt ‘BENECR7X’ – and the double fixture also ended with a 2-0 win for #B04eSports.
After the first matchday in the newly created North-West section, the Black and Reds are in top spot – the VBL has been split into two divisions for the first time due to the high number of participating teams (26).
From 16.30 CET on next Tuesday, 17 November, there are three games against the current VBL bottom-placed team SC Paderborn. From 20.00 CET the opponents for Bayer 04 are FC St. Pauli.


Carolin Simon is the new captain of the Bayer 04 women’s team. The full-back, who joined from Bayern Munich in the summer, will take over the captain’s armband for the 2026/27 season. Simon returned to Leverkusen in the summer after ten years away. The 33-year-old succeeds goalkeeper Friederike Repohl, who retired at the end of last season.
Show more
Farid Alfa-Ruprecht is going out on loan from Bayer 04 Leverkusen to Bundesliga 2 side Hertha Berlin. The pacy winger will be at the Berlin club for one year.
Show more
Heading towards the competitive start of the 2026/27 season together: the Werkself kicked off preparations for the DFB Pokal clash at third-tier SV Wehen Wiesbaden with an open session in front of their fans on Tuesday morning. Before the first-round tie on Saturday 22 August at 13:00 CEST - for which the away section is already sold out - there'll be one more open session on Thursday from 11:00 CEST, when fans have another chance to watch head coach Carles Martínez's men at work.
Show more
Bayer 04 host RB Leipzig at the BayArena on matchday 4 of the 2026/27 Bundesliga season. The game is on Sunday 20 September with the kick-off at 15:30 CEST. The latest information on ticket sales.
Show more