Black and Red supporters were able to hear a new voice on the live stream on the Bayer 04 Twitch channel: Furkan ‘FURKY’ Kayacik led the viewers as presenter and commentator through the evening broadcasting live from the TV studio at the BayArena with a view of the pitch. The 22-year-old joined Leverkusen before the start of the new season in the Virtual Bundesliga (VBL) and is now also working as a content creator.
Kayacik’s teammate Marc ‘MARC_LDW23’ Landwehr had the controller in his hands for the first clash in the new VBL campaign Controller. The Leverkusen youngster registered a 1-1 draw on PlayStation 5 against Kiel's Cihat ‘CIHAT_6161’ Korkmaz. As Fabian ‘B04_DUBZJE’ de Cae beat the Holstein eSports player Nils ‘SAMSTAG_11’ Mohr 3-1 in a head-to-head clash on Xbox Series S/X, a lead was taken into the doubles match.
The two youth eSports players Landwehr (19) and new signing Paul ‘B04_PAUL’ Degner (18) started for the Black and Reds. With almost two thirds possession, Leverkusen had control of the game and ended with a 1-1 draw – and an overall 5-2 win for starters.
The late evening brought the encounters with the Schalke 04 eSports players. The Royal Blues beat VfL Bochum 6-3 on matchday one – but then stood no chance against the #B04eSports team.
Landwehr secured a 3-0 win on PS 5 against Hasan ‘HASOO’ Eker, de Cae beat Schalke’s Serhat ‘SERHATINHO’ Öztürk 2-0 on Xbox. The youngsters again played in the doubles for Bayer 04. They were also winners (2-1) as they concluded a perfect matchday against the Royal Blues.
It was a successful first night for the Black and Reds. "A great snapshot. But we’ve only completed the first two matchdays and we've got lots of work ahead of us," said Florian Dederichs, head of internationalisation and eSports at Bayer 04.
Leverkusen are top of the table in the North West division with 14 points. Equal second on 10 points are FC St. Pauli, Hansa Rostock and Hamburg SV.
Next Tuesday night, de Cae and Co. play seventh-placed VfL Bochum (18.00 CET) and eighth-placed Hannover 96 (20.00 CET).
Bayer 04 vs Holstein Kiel 5:2
PlayStation 5: 1-1
Xbox Series S/X: 3-0
Doubles (PlayStation 5): 1-1
Bayer 04 vs FC Schalke 04
PlayStation 5: 3-0
Xbox Series S/X: 2-0
Doubles (PlayStation 5): 2-1
Bayer 04 Leverkusen have extended the contract with Germany U19 international Montrell Culbreath. The attacking midfielder and right winger has penned a deal with the Bundesliga club that runs to 30 June 2030. Culbreath has played for the Werkself as a youth player since 2023. Last December, he scored his first Bundesliga goal for the Leverkusen first team in the Bayer 04 3-1 away win at RB Leipzig.
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The Werkself's 3-0 victory over Villarreal in the UEFA Champions League certainly left many happy faces: Malik Tillman was delighted with his brace, Robert Andrich with the clean sheet and coach Kasper Hjulmand with the "manner" of this significant home win. With an overwhelming superiority and over 75 per cent possession at times, Bayer 04 deserved their place in the UCL play-off round. They will face a familiar foe in February. The Werkself review.
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Werkself TV shows highlights of the 3-0 win against FC Villarreal on matchday 8 in the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 league phase...
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The Champions League journey continues! On the eighth and final matchday of the league phase of the UEFA Champions League 2025/26, Bayer 04 secured their place in the play-offs with a commanding 3-0 win over Villarreal. Malik Tillman put in a mature and combative performance for Leverkusen, scoring a brace (12', 35') to make it 2-0 at the break, while Alejandro Grimaldo (57') and plenty of control of the game did the rest in the second half. The draw for the Werkself's next UCL opponents will take place on Friday 30 January at 12:00 CET.
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