The Virtual Bundesliga (VBL) celebrates its tenth anniversary this year: The VBL Open, part of the VBL competition, first started in 2012 in cooperation with the German Football League (DFL). To this day, it is the only EA SPORTS FIFA game directly integrated into competition of a professional football league. Now over 130,000 people from across Germany take part. All matches are played on the football simulation game FIFA 22 on the newest console generation, PlayStation 5 plus Xbox Series S/X.
The VBL Club Championship, the second competition in the VBL, is in its fourth season. Bayer 04, with its eSports team is one of the founders of this league. Participation in the VBL CC is open to all 36 German professional clubs and 26 teams from the top two football leagues have confirmed their participation this year. The only changes in composition are related to league status: The new second division clubs Hansa Rostock and FC Ingolstadt replace the relegated Würzburg Kickers and Eintracht Braunschweig.
"We very much welcome the commitment and the efforts of the DFL in the area of eSports and we are looking forward to being in the fourth year of the VBL Club Championship," explained Florian Dederichs, the head of eSports and internationalisation at Bayer 04. "With our new and deeper squad, we want to be more unpredictable for our opponents and build on the successful past seasons."
Fabian ‘B04_DUBZJE’ De Cae, Marc ‘MARC_LDW23’ Landwehr and Anna ‘B04_ANNA’ Klink are joined for the new VBL season by new signings Paul ‘B04_Paul’ Degner plus Furkan ‘FURKY’ Kayacik.
At the end of March next year, as part of the VBL Club Championship, the German club championship will be decided. In the VBL Grand Final at the start of June 2020 there will also be a champion of all participating individual players from the VBL Open and VBL CC competitions.
At the end of the winter training camp in Portugal, the Bayer 04 Women convincingly mastered their friendly ahead of the start of the second half of the season. In the match against Swiss league leaders Servette FCCF, coach Roberto Pätzold's team won 3-0 at the Monte Gordo Sports Complex. Carlotta Wamser (4’), Vanessa Fudalla (18’) and Loreen Bender (53’) scored for Bayer 04, who have been preparing for the Rückrunde in the Algarve since last Saturday.
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In the first episode of the new interview series "A New Chapter", Werkself defender Jarell Quansah reflects on his first few months under the Cross and speaks about his journey from England to Leverkusen. Having come through the ranks at Liverpool, a new chapter began for Quansah in the summer at Bayer 04 — with new objectives, fresh challenges and much ambition. In the video, the centre-back speaks about his development as a player and person, about the courage to leave your own comfort zone, and about what it means for him to be part of an international team in a different country. Honest, reflective and full of motivation — just like the start of his Werkself career.
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Full focus on Hoffenheim: after the late postponement of the away match at Hamburger SV, the Werkself are looking forward. To get themselves in top shape for the key clash at top-six rivals TSG Hoffenheim on Saturday 17 January (kick-off 15:30 CET), a number of players showed full commitment even on a day off - including two AFCON returnees...
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After Rio de Janeiro, it's off to Thuringia: This summer, Bayer 04 Leverkusen will prepare for the 2026/27 football season in Germany. While Brazil was the destination last year, the Werkself will now set up their training camp in Blankenhain, just outside Erfurt, from 1 to 7 August 2026.
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Four Bayer 04 players are in action at the 35th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations being played in Morocco from 21 December to 18 January 2026: Eliesse Ben Seghir for the hosts, Edmond Tapsoba with Burkina Faso, Ibrahim Maza for Algeria and Christian Kofane with Cameroon. Updates on the AFCON matches involving Werkself players...
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