
Andrey Lunev finally made his debut for Bayer 04 in Budapest on 9 December. The Russia goalkeeper played the full 90 minutes in the final group match in the Europa League away to Hungarian champions Ferencváros. Bayer 04 TV accompanied the Werkself number 40 on the trip and met up with him for an interview. Here is the film on YouTube.
It should have been a positive end to the year: The Bayer 04 eSports players were due to face FC Köln on Tuesday night, 21 December, for a derby in the Virtual Bundesliga (VBL). However, the players from Cologne have had to cancel the match set to be played from 18.00 CET due to illness.
After ten games in the VBL Club Championship, the #B04eSports players have 41 points and are currently sixth out of 13 teams in the division. Xbox player Fabian ‘B04_DUBZJE’ de Cae and Co. are back in the VBL CC on Tuesday 11 January. They first face Borussia Mönchengladbach from 18.00 CET and two hours later they start the second half of the season against Holstein Kiel.
Fast counter-attacks and penetrating runs are part of the playing philosophy at the Werkself. There are several lightning quick players in the squad. Three of them belong to the total of 19 Bundesliga players who broke the 35 kmph mark in the first half of the season.

Seventh place in these sprinter rankings is taken by Jeremie Frimpong with the right-back chalking up a speed of 35.61 kmph. New signing Mitchel Bakker is in eighth spot with a speed of 35.58 kmph and Moussa Diaby is nineteenth. The Frenchman clocked up 35.14 kmph. Incredibly: The fastest Bundesliga player in the first half of the season is Jeremiah St. Juste (36.63 kmph) – a central defender at Mainz.
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Markus Elmer played for Bayer 04 for three years. Signed from VfB Stuttgart in 1980, the sweeper from Oberkochen in Baden-Württemberg made 42 Bundesliga appearances for the Black and Reds (two goals). However, Elmer had problems with an Achilles tendon after many years of professional football and he made his last appearance on 25 September 1982 – in a 3-0 defeat against his former club Stuttgart. After his playing career ended, Elmer became a coach in amateur football. Today he celebrates his 69th birthday. Many happy returns.

Just 11 days after their last encounter in the Bundesliga, Bayer 04 Women meet Hamburger SV again. On Sunday (15:00 CET), the two teams will be battling it out at the Volksparkstadion for a place in the DFB Cup quarter-finals. Coach Roberto Pätzold is aware of his team's status as favourites against the promoted outfit - and knows what it will come down to against the awkward opponents.
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Bayer 04 Women goalkeeper Charlotte Voll has been hit by injury again. The 26-year-old suffered an acromioclavicular joint separation in her left shoulder in the latter stages of the Bundesliga match at SC Freiburg on Monday and is set to be sidelined for a number of months. She underwent successful surgery in Düsseldorf on Friday.
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Like they did in the first showdown of the VBL Club Championship by WOW, which the Leverkusen gamers won in spectacular style, Marc and Sean Landwehr also started the second showdown with six points by beating TSG Hoffenheim and VfL Bochum 1848, last-16 participants of the first showdown. The #B04eSports team suffered defeat to SV Darmstadt 98 and Hertha BSC. Meanwhile, Keanu Senkbeil made his VBL CC debut in the clash with the capital club.
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The Bayer 04 Women will end 2025 with the Bundesliga top match against Bayern Munich on Monday night, 22 December. The schedule for matchdays 12 to 15 has been announced by the German Football Association (DFB). In addition to two away games on Fridays, Leverkusen also have a home game on a Saturday lunchtime.
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The next showdown in the VBL Club Championship 2025/26 is here. On their way to the offline round, to be held at the second showdown in Frankfurt am Main on 23 November, six opponents await in the online preliminary round. The #B04eSports team will face the first four this Thursday, 13 November, from 18:00 CET (live on the Bayer 04 app and on Twitch). The lowdown on our opponents.
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