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 have fond memories of their encounters with Heidenheim, including a resounding 6-0 win in the reverse fixture. Kasper Hjulmand’s side would very much like to produce a similarly clinical display as they now head to the Voith-Arena for Matchday 27 on Saturday (15:30 CET). But they come up against a team fighting for their Bundesliga lives at the bottom of the table, 10 points adrift of safety with time running out. Here’s all you need to know ahead of the game in our matchday news.
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The Bayer 04 Women welcome FC Carl Zeiss Jena to the Ulrich Haberland Stadium on Sunday night in a white retro look - and in a unique Bayer 04 ‘50 Years of Fan Clubs’ special edition jersey. In sporting terms, head coach Roberto Pätzold's team will face the Bundesliga's bottom team at 18:30 CET looking to keep their chances of third place in the table alive with six games left to play.
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Bayer 04 return to Bundesliga action this weekend. Following their elimination in the Round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League, the Werkself are away to FC Heidenheim 1846 on Saturday, 21 March (kick-off: 15:30 CET) on Bundesliga matchday 27. Ahead of the clash in the eastern Swabian Alps, head coach Kasper Hjulmand spoke about the importance of the fixture and the chances of qualifying for the Champions League next term.
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A quick look at the table shows the situation at FC Heidenheim is serious. The Bundesliga bottom club are already ten points behind the play-off spot with their backs to the wall in sporting terms. With eight games left to play, avoiding relegation appears to be a mission impossible. Nevertheless, they are far from flying the white flag at the Schlossberg ahead of the clash with the Werkself this Saturday, 21 March (kick-off: 15:30 CET). The lowdown on our next opponents.
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen will have to manage without the two strikers in the immediate future. Caroline Kehrer suffered a torn ligament in her right knee and Amy Wrigge tore her cruciate ligament.
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