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.
In their third friendly of this pre-season, Bayer 04 played on home soil for the first time – and won there too! The Werkself claimed a comfortable 4-0 victory against Belgian top-flight side KRC Genk at the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion. Jeanuel Belocian (9’) and Nathan Tella (42’) gave a dominant Leverkusen a 2-0 lead at the break, which Afonso Moreira (51’) and Christian Kofane (53’) doubled after the break. Among the many second-half substitutions was Patrik Schick, who made his first friendly appearance of the summer.
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The Werkself are finally back. On Saturday 8 August, Bayer 04 kick off the 2026/27 campaign with their opening match. But there’s far more than just a double-header in store for Werkself supporters. True to the motto ‘One day. Two teams. One club’, the BayArena and the Ulrich Haberland Stadium will be transformed into a world of excitement.
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The Werkself continue their 2026/27 pre-season preparations with their third friendly against Belgian top-flight side KRC Genk at the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion on Wednesday 29 July (kick-off 15:00 CEST). Werkself-TV is broadcasting the match live and in full in a stream from 14:50 CEST...
After the children from the Bayer 04 Football Academy grilled Janis Blaswich and Simeon Rapsch last week, another group of 20 young Werkself fans gathered at the BayArena press conference room on Tuesday afternoon, 28 July . This time, the kids directed their questions at Tim Oermann and Jonah Berghoff. Defender Oermann raved about his school days, whilst talented midfielder Berghoff revealed to the young footballers, amongst other things, who his favourite player is – and he is also at Bayer 04. To round things off, the pair naturally obliged with all requests for autographs and selfies.
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Bayer 04 are back on the pitch. Following the first training sessions, the Werkself play the first pre-season friendly on Saturday, July 18. The match against Oberliga club Sportfreunde Baumberg kicks off at 15:30 CEST in Monheim am Rhein. Fans unable to attend the match can watch head coach Carles Martínez’s first game in charge for free via a livestream at bayer04.de and on the Bayer 04 app, as well as on Werkself.tv (exclusively for members). Just log on and watch the games live. All the other Werkself preseason friendlies leading up to the 2026/27 season will also be streamed live for free.
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