There are big changes for the new season with no more divisions, no more 2v2 games. Instead, showdowns, divided into online preliminary rounds with six matches and subsequent offline knockout phases in a different German city for the best 16 teams in the preliminary round. Details of the new format can be found HERE.
In Leipzig, where the first offline phase of the first showdown starts tomorrow, the #B04eSports team of Marc 'MARC_LDW23' Landwehr, Sean 'SEAN_LDW07' Landwehr, Markus 'B04_MARKUS' Hüttemann and Keanu 'KEANUS21_' Senkbeil will face the following opponents. An overview of the fixtures dates can be found below.
It starts with a strong opening opponent. SC Paderborn reached the semi-finals of the VBL CC last season, where they faced Bayer 04 and lost. SCP won the double the season before. There are two new eSports players in the SC Paderborn team this season, one of them is 21-year-old Israeli Yuval ‘YUVAL’ Blizovsky, who was runner-up at the FC Pro 24 World Championship in 2024. The other addition is 16-year-old Dutchman Morris ‘MORRIS’ van de Pol. The team also includes 30-year-old Daniel ‘COACH_POMMES’ Elit.
Arminia Bielefeld suspended their eSports operations in 2020 but are now back on the virtual football pitch. The squad consists of 21-year-old Hisham ‘LIBOO7_’ Badreddine, 23-year-old Laurin-Noah ‘SNAKEZ’ Bartsch and 21-year-old Marius ‘MARIUS114’ Grundmann. Badreddine most recently played for SC Preußen Münster, Bartsch for 1. FC Heidenheim 1846. For Grundmann, this is his first professional VBL-CC season.
Another top opponent awaits in the third match. Last season, Mainz finished level on points with champions Bayern Munich in second place in the South-East Division in the final round of the VBL CC. FSV then had to call it a day before the semi-finals. The squad includes Ditmir ‘DITMIR_4897’ Alimi, Georgios ‘PGEORGE7’ Papatolis and Joe ‘JH7’ Hellmann. Last season, 28-year-old Alimi reached the VBL Grand Final, the individual competition played after the club title is decided, where he reached the Round of 16. Georgios Papatolis has been a stalwart in the Mainz squad for several years, and this is Hellmann's second season with the 05s.
Werder will start with a revamped squad: Max Julius ‘DIVINERS’ Gröne is nevertheless a familiar face in the line-up. Once trained in Bremen, the 22-year-old led SC Paderborn to the semi-finals of the VBL CC last season. At his side: Jannik ‘KYNURU’ Schüßler, who showed what he can do with impressive performances in the VBL Open and the DFB ePokal and is now playing for Werder Bremen. Together with player-coach Fabio ‘FIFABIO’ Sabbagh, the team wants to build on previous successes. Last season, they finished second in the North-West Division. In the final round, the team was eliminated before the semi-finals.
Last season, Borussia Dortmund finished behind Werder Bremen in the North-West Division. There was then a major shake-up for this new campaign: Roee ‘FELDMANN’ Feldman left the club in the summer and was replaced by Luca ‘LUCAFIFA72’ Weber, a young player from FC Köln. Together with Dennis ‘DENNINHO’ Malcherczyk, Francesco ‘VIRGIL’ Allocco and Lucas ‘LUCAS’ Geerken, BVB has one of the biggest squads in the league.
Promoted Dynamo Dresden are a completely new team in the VBL Club Championship. The debutants start the season with Marcel ‘MINUSMACHER31’ Gramann as player-coach, Nils ‘TROLFARY’ Coenen and Justin ‘JUSTINIOO’ Weißflog.
The fixtures and dates at a glance:
Thursday, 16 October
Tuesday, 21 October
For anyone who wants to follow the matches of the Leverkusen eSports team live: All this season's games can again be watched live on the Bayer 04 app. Fans can also watch the games on the Bayer 04 Twitch channel HERE.
Panagiotis, known as Panos, Retsos wore the Bayer 04 jersey for three years. Including his loan spells, he was under contract with the Werkself for a total of four and a half years. "It's a very special club for me," said the 27-year-old, who returned to his boyhood club Olympiacos in 2022, in an interview with bayer04.de. The former Leverkusen man is now captain and a first choice for the Werkself's next opponents in the UEFA Champions League. Ahead of the clash on Tuesday night, 20 January (kick-off: 21:00 CET), Retsos talks about his fond memories of his time in Leverkusen and the imminent reunion with some of his former team-mates. He also talks about who brought him to Leverkusen and why he likes getting older.
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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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Bayer 04 Leverkusen will have to manage without goalkeeper Mark Flekken and forward Nathan Tella for the time being.
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After a week in the Algarve, the Bayer 04 Women returned home on Saturday afternoon. The Werkself had six training sessions, two friendlies and a lot of time together as a team. Roberto Pätzold's team will be back in action in the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga next Friday for the start of matchday 15.
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"We didn’t make the right decision at the right moments," said captain Robert Andrich after the 1-0 defeat away to TSG Hoffenheim, where Bayer 04 endeavoured to control the game but failed to score. The Werkself also had two enforced substitutions due to injuries. Nevertheless, the coach, captain and debutant Janis Blaswich are positive about the coming weeks. The Werkself review.
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