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
Happy birthday, Patrik Schick! On his special day, it's not just the Czech striker who can look forward to lots of presents and hopefully many more goals – Bayer 04 fans can also get their hands on a free number 14 print when they buy a Werkself jersey today, January 24! In addition, a match-worn jersey belonging to the now 30-year-old will be raffled off among all purchasers next week.
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A great start to the new eSports year as the Leverkusen professional gamers pick up nine points in the first three of six matches in the online preliminary round of the fourth showdown of the VBL Club Championship 2025/26. Between big wins, wonder goals and composed performances, there was plenty on offer against VfB Stuttgart, Hannover 96 and FC Augsburg.
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