The opening fixtures in the play-offs, to be played using the FIFA Ultimate Team online friendly format, involve the Xbox players. Fabian ‘B04_DUBZJE’ De Cae and his rivals start on Saturday, 15 May at 13.00 CEST in the first of four Swiss Rounds on the day.
One round consists of first and second legs with the goals scored combined. If the scores are level after the two 90-minutes then the winner will be determined in extra time and on penalties if required. The first Swiss Round for the PlayStation 4 players starts at 17.30 CEST on Saturday night. Kai ‘DETO’ Wollin and Marc ‘MARC_LDW23’ Landwehr will represent the Werkself.
The fifth Swiss Round is on Sunday, 16 May, and is followed by the knockout stages (Round of 32 & Round of 16). The kick-off for competitors on both formats is at 17.00 CEST. All players with a maximum of two defeats after five Swiss Rounds will progress to the knockout phase. The winners of the Round of 16 matches will go through to the VBL Grand Final.
Details of the tournament mode of the VBL play-offs can be found HERE.
Xbox:
Saturday, 15 May:
Sunday, 16 May:
PlayStation 4:
Saturday, 15 May:
Sunday, 16 May:
Strengthening the Bayer 04 Leverkusen youth teams: Konstantinos Kotsifakis will join the Werkself from Bundesliga 2 club Hertha Berlin for the 2026/27 season, where he will be a permanent member of the Leverkusen U19 coaching set-up. The German-Greek will also take on an operational role in coaching the Bayer 04 Future Team. The 29-year-old was most recently head coach of the U17s at Hertha Berlin.
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Another award for the Bayer 04 head groundsman and staff: After coming top in the 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2024/25 seasons, the BayArena pitch came second in the Bundesliga Pitch of the Year ranking for the 2025/26 season. VfL Wolfsburg secured the top spot this year, with TSG Hoffenheim in third place.
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Opening opponents, derby weekends, the opponents in the season finale: This information and more will be available to Bayer 04 fans on Thursday, 2 July, when the 2026/27 Bundesliga fixture list is published.
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Rüdiger Vollborn has been at the club for 40 years, he holds the record number of Bundesliga appearances for the club (401) and is the only Bayer 04 player to have won both the UEFA Cup (1988) and the DFB Pokal (1993). And the Berliner stayed with the Werkself after ending his impressive playing career as he worked as a goalkeeping coach for the following nine years. Vollborn now works under the Bayer Cross as a fan liaison officer and club archivist. Since February 2021, the personal Black and Red lexicon takes Werkself fans under the heading of 'Rudi recounts...' on a brief trip through the history of Bayer 04 every month…
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