The encounters in the DFB eCup will be played in a best-of-three format. The two 1vs1 matches come first with the Leverkusen eSports players Mario ‘Bulji’ Lovrinovic and Furkan ‘FURKY’ Kayacik first playing in individual games against the PHIRONIX eSports players.
If there is no overall winner from the two matches then a third (2vs2) game will be played to determine the result. The winners in the Round of 16 progress to the quarter-finals on 16 June.
The games against the team from Karlsruhe will be streamed live on the Bayer 04 Twitch channel.
The DFB-eCup:
The DFB eCup is a nationwide eFootball tournament organised by the German Football Association (DFB). Professional eFootball teams are joined by amateur sides from Germany. Winners from the qualifying rounds can meet teams from the Virtual Bundesliga (VBL) in the main rounds. The Bayer 04 eSports team ended up seventh in the North West section of the VBL
Final rounds:
Round of 16: 24-25 May
Quarter-finals: 16 June
Semi-finals and final: 17 June
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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There were celebrations among those in black and red at the RheinEnergieSTADION. On Matchday 9 of the 2026/27 Bundesliga season, the Werkself beat 1. FC Köln 2-0 and registered their sixth successive win in the derby. Aleix Garcia put Bayer 04 in front after just seven minutes with a direct free kick. Leverkusen played with discipline and energy after that and didn't allow some fierce challenges to unsettle them. Patrik Schick made it 2-0 in the 86th minute, and Said El Mala's goal in stoppage time for Köln proved nothing more than consolation. Jonas Hofmann crowned the derby win with his 100th appearance for the club.
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