The Leverkusen players on the virtual turf are again Marc ‘MARC_LDW23’ Landwehr and Furkan ‘FURKY’ Kayacik, who both extended their contracts with the Werkself last month. The duo are joined by the new Bayer 04 eSports talent Mario ‘BULJI’ Lovrinovic.
29 teams will compete in the coming season in the VBL Club Championship 2022/23 – more than ever before. The teams will be split into two North-West and South-East divisions as usual. The Leverkusen trio will compete in the North-West section along with the following 14 clubs: FC Köln, Borussia Mönchengladbach, Hansa Rostock, Schalke 04, FC St. Pauli, Hamburg SV, Hannover 96, Hertha Berlin, Holstein Kiel, SC Paderborn 07, Werder Bremen, VfL Bochum, VfL Wolfsburg and Eintracht Braunschweig.
In addition to matches at the weekend, the kick-off times for games during the week are always on Tuesdays in the North-West section. Matchday one for the Black and Reds is on 15 November. The final matchday in the current calendar year is on 20 December before games resume on matchday 11 on 10 January. That gives all friends of Bayer 04 the chance to follow and support the Werkself during the Bundesliga break. The final matchday 14 in the VBL Club Championship 2022/23 will be played on 28 February 2023.
As usual, the teams finishing first and second in the two sections will qualify for the final rounds of the VBL Club Championship on 25 and 26 March 2023. Teams finishing from third to sixth in the two sections will take part in the VBL Club Championship play-offs on 7 and 8 March to decide the remaining four places in the finals. The German Club champions will be the winner of the eight final teams in the knockout tournament.
That will be followed by the German individual championship in the so-called VBL Grand Final. Qualifiers are the two eSports players from the four best clubs in the division from the VBL Club Championship. Another 24 players from the clubs in the VBL Club Championship also have the opportunity to take part in the Grand Final via VBL play-offs.
A total of 104 players will meet in the VBL play-offs who have qualified via the VBL Open for the VBL Play-offs. The VBL Open gives everyone the opportunity to take part in the knockout rounds of the VBL play-offs. From the 128 participants in the VBL play-offs, 16 players will qualify for the VBL Grand Final.
The 32 eSports players in the Grand Final will compete in a group stage before playing for the German Individual Championship in knockout rounds.
Decision made: Germany will submit a bid to the IOC (International Olympic Committee) to host the 2036, 2040 or 2044 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Munich. The representatives of the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) voted for Munich over Cologne-Rhine-Ruhr at their extraordinary meeting in Baden-Baden on Saturday 26 September. Berlin had already withdrawn from the vote a few days earlier.
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Former Werkself star Michael Ballack, who won the German Footballer of the Year award in 2002 while playing in Leverkusen, celebrates his 50th birthday on Saturday. Bayer 04 sends him its best wishes!
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A challenging start to what will hopefully be a long journey: The Bayer 04 women’s team kick off their new DFB Pokal campaign on Sunday (14:00 CEST) against second-division leaders FC Viktoria Berlin. Coach Roberto Pätzold expects stiff resistance in the capital – and is counting on his team’s strong away form in the Bundesliga so far this term.
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Attention Werkself fans: In addition to tickets for the floodlit home match against Werder Bremen, tickets are now also available for the Bayer 04 women’s team’s two subsequent fixtures against Eintracht Frankfurt and Hamburger SV at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium. Both matches in the Google Pixel Women’s Bundesliga will take place at family-friendly kick-off times on Saturday afternoons. Here is the latest information on matchday ticket sales.
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