
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.

In mid-August, the Werkself will set off on a four-day trip to England to play their final two friendly matches of the 2026/27 pre-season against Premier League clubs Nottingham Forest and Newcastle United. The match in Nottingham against the Tricky Trees is on Wednesday 12 August at 20:45 CEST (19:45 BST) at the City Ground. The game against the Magpies in Newcastle is on Saturday 15 August at 16:00 CEST (15:00 BST) at the atmospheric St James’ Park. Details on ticket sales for both matches.
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Black and Red talent development at the highest level – even off the pitch: Apprentices Jule Suermann, Leandra Bellia and Julia Niederheide have successfully completed their two- or three-year apprenticeships at the club. Bayer 04 honoured the trio at the BayArena on Tuesday.
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Rieden reloaded: Just like last year, the Bayer 04 Women’s team are spending their summer training camp in this idyllic corner of Bavaria. From this Sunday, coach Roberto Pätzold’s team will be based in Rieden in the Upper Palatinate for a week.
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Following the summer break, most of the players are back in Leverkusen. While two Bayer 04 first-team players are still in action at the World Cup, the players present officially kicked off the new season with fitness assessments. At the Werkstatt, the Bayer 04 rehabilitation and training centre, Robert Andrich, Edmond Tapsoba and the rest of the squad worked up quite a sweat in the sweltering summer heat. New signings Afonso Moreira and Kennet Eichhorn also successfully completed the day’s sessions alongside their new team-mates.
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The Werkself return tomorrow, Tuesday 14 July (from 11:00 CEST at the BayArena; live stream on bayer04.de, the Bayer 04 app and YouTube), with new head coach Carles Martínez leading his first training session as part of the Bayer 04 set-up. His coaching team comprises a mix of new and long-standing colleagues.
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