This week started with a rearranged fixture in the Virtual Bundesliga (VBL) from matchday 11 against the FC Köln eSports players. The opening match on PlayStation 5 saw Marc ‘MARC_LDW23’ Landwehr draw 0-0 with Denis ‘DENIS’ Müller. The one-vs-one on Xbox Series S/X ended in a 5-1 defeat for Fabian ‘B04_DUBZJE’ de Cae against Köln’s Tim ‘THESTRXNGER’ Katnawatos.
The overall result was a deserved 4-4 draw as Landwehr and Paul ‘B04_PAUL’ Degner were able to win 2-1 in the following two-vs-two encounter.
The Werkself eSports players end the first half of the Club Championship season at the usual VBL kick-off time on Tuesday night. That starts at 18.00 CET with the match against Borussia Mönchengladbach. The Foals are currently fifth in the VBL table with a three-point lead over Bayer 04 in seventh. "We've set ourselves the target of ending the first half of the season by overtaking one of our direct rivals in Gladbach," explained ‘MARC_LDW23’ in outlining the intentions for the evening.
The Black and Reds then face Holstein Kiel at 20.00 CET. The matches against the team bottom in the North West Division starts the second half of the campaign. The final matchday is set for 1 March.
The matches involving the #B04eSports players will be broadcast as usual on the club Twitch channel. HERE is the link to the channel.
“Year after year, this is an incredibly valuable gathering, both in terms of the content covered and the opportunity for mutual discussion,” stressed Bayer 04 goalkeeping coach David Thiel in his welcoming address at this year’s goalkeeping coaches’ meeting. This was the third time in four seasons that the event had been held at the BayArena. Organised by the German Football Association (DFB), the meeting brought together goalkeeping coaches from the Bundesliga, Bundesliga 2 and the 3rd division from the west region. For the first time this year, goalkeeping coaches from the youth performance centres (NLZ) were also present. Bayer 04 fitness coach Markus Müller provided fascinating insights into the specific fitness training carried out with the Werkself’s goalkeepers.
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It was another incredibly close call in the end: The second showdown in the 2026/27 VBL Club Championship saw the #B04eSports team once again narrowly miss out on a place in the top 16 of the preliminary round – and with it, a spot in the in-person knockout stage. It was a bitter blow: Marc and Sean Landwehr again fell just short, despite being level on points with their rivals. As was the case last month, their weaker record across the twelve individual matches in the six preliminary round fixtures proved decisive.
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“They stuck with us over the past few weeks when things weren’t going so well,” said captain Edmond Tapsoba, thanking the fans for their support after the 2–1 win in Cologne and dedicating the derby victory to them. Throughout the 90 minutes, the Werkself had looked unfazed and in command, inflicting the first home defeat of the season on FC Köln. It was the sixth consecutive win against the Cologne team for Bayer 04 – head coach Carles Martínez, on the other hand, was facing the team from the neighbouring city for the first time and “now really knows what this derby win means”. The Werkself derby review.
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Following the 2–1 derby victory away at FC Köln on Bundesliga matchday 9, Edmond Tapsoba, Malik Tillman and Aleix Garcia spoke to Werkself TV...
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Werkself TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04's 2-1 derby win at 1. FC Köln Matchday 9 of the 2026/27 Bundesliga season...
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