
Matchday one in the VBL CC started at 18.00 against Hamburg SV, last season's runners-up in the North West division. The match – as with all other fixtures this season, was decided in a best-of-three format. The 2 vs 2 game came first with Marc ‘MARC_LDW23’ Landwehr and Furkan ‘FURKY’ Kayacik on the controllers for Leverkusen against the Hamburg players Daniel ‘HSV_Daniel7’ Dwelk and Steffen ‘Funino’ Pöppe. The game ended in a 4-1 defeat for the Black and Reds.
It was advantage to HSV ahead of the second game although Landwehr was able to secure a 2-0 victory over Hamburg's Dwelk in the 1 vs 1 match. The decider came in the third game between Kayacik and Pöppe with the clash ending in a 2-0 defeat for Leverkusen. That meant HSV were the overall winners and they picked up their first three points of the season.
The second matchday against Holstein Kiel followed later in the evening. The Storks also suffered defeat in their first match against FC Hansa Rostock. The game between the Black and Reds and the Kiel side started with a 2 vs 2 encounter with Landwehr and Kayacik taking on the two Storks Colin ‘COOOLLIIIN’ Völter and Florian ‘IROYALDYNASTY’ Wilhelm. The 2 vs 2 game also ended in a 4-1 defeat for the Black and Reds.
To avoid an early overall defeat, a win was required in the following 1 vs 1 game – and that was provided by Landwehr against Kiel's Jeffrey ‘JEFFREY6TH’ Aninkorah. The Leverkusen players clocked up an emphatic 7-1 victory. The decider again came in the third match with Leverkusen's Mario ‘BULJI’ Lovrinovic taking on Kiel’s Völter in a 1 vs 1 game. After Lovrinovic initially went behind, the 19-year-old turned the game round to win 2-1 and thereby secure the first three points of the season for the #B04eSports team.
The Leverkusen team are fifth in the North West division after the first two matchdays. The #B04eSports team are next in action on Saturday 19 November on matchdays three and four: Leverkusen start at 15.30 CET against VfL Bochum and that is followed at 17.00 CET by the meeting with Borussia Mönchengladbach.
Results from matchdays 1 and 2:
Hamburg SV vs Bayer 04 (0 points)
Two vs two: 4-1
Dwelk against Landwehr: 0-2
Pöppe against Kayacik: 2-0
Bayer 04 vs Holstein Kiel (3 points)
Two vs two: 1-4
Landwehr against Aninkorah: 7-1

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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