
Marc ‘MARC_LDW23’ Landwehr and Furkan ‘FURKY’ Kayacik will again be on the search for virtual goals for the Black and Reds. The duo are joined this season by the new Bayer 04 eSports talent Mario ‘BULJI’ Lovrinovic. The trio are in action in the opening clash against the Hamburg SV console pros from 18.00 CET. The Red Shorts finished second in the North West division last season.
This year's VBL campaign will be played exclusively on PlayStation 5 and the format and assessment of the matchdays have also changed: Every meeting will again involve up to three individual players and be played in a best-of-three format. However, individual matches will no longer be awarded points. The club winning after two or three individual games receive three points in the division table with the losing club collecting no points. In the event of a draw after three individual games both clubs will receive one point.
As with last season, the matchday evening in the VBL CC will consist of a double matchday this term. The games against HSV will be followed by the next meeting from 19.30 CET: The Leverkusen eSports players then play Holstein Kiel on matchday two. The Storks ended last season bottom of the table.

It was another incredibly close call in the end: The second showdown in the 2026/27 VBL Club Championship saw the #B04eSports team once again narrowly miss out on a place in the top 16 of the preliminary round – and with it, a spot in the in-person knockout stage. It was a bitter blow: Marc and Sean Landwehr again fell just short, despite being level on points with their rivals. As was the case last month, their weaker record across the twelve individual matches in the six preliminary round fixtures proved decisive.
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“They stuck with us over the past few weeks when things weren’t going so well,” said captain Edmond Tapsoba, thanking the fans for their support after the 2–1 win in Cologne and dedicating the derby victory to them. Throughout the 90 minutes, the Werkself had looked unfazed and in command, inflicting the first home defeat of the season on FC Köln. It was the sixth consecutive win against the Cologne team for Bayer 04 – head coach Carles Martínez, on the other hand, was facing the team from the neighbouring city for the first time and “now really knows what this derby win means”. The Werkself derby review.
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Following the 2–1 derby victory away at FC Köln on Bundesliga matchday 9, Edmond Tapsoba, Malik Tillman and Aleix Garcia spoke to Werkself TV...
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Werkself TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04's 2-1 derby win at 1. FC Köln Matchday 9 of the 2026/27 Bundesliga season...
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There were celebrations among those in black and red at the RheinEnergieSTADION. On Matchday 9 of the 2026/27 Bundesliga season, the Werkself beat 1. FC Köln 2-0 and registered their sixth successive win in the derby. Aleix Garcia put Bayer 04 in front after just seven minutes with a direct free kick. Leverkusen played with discipline and energy after that and didn't allow some fierce challenges to unsettle them. Patrik Schick made it 2-0 in the 86th minute, and Said El Mala's goal in stoppage time for Köln proved nothing more than consolation. Jonas Hofmann crowned the derby win with his 100th appearance for the club.
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