
As with last season, the VBL CC is again divided into two groups according to geography with the Werkself in the North West division. The #B04eSports players kick-off at 18.00 CET against Holstein Kiel who finished two places behind the Black and Reds in seventh place in 2020/21.
"We want to make a good start to the campaign and we have put in a lot of training over recent weeks," said Fabian ‘B04_DUBZJE’ de Cae, who will start on Xbox as usual and is once again rated as one of the top players on that console.
After the end of the career for Kai ‘DETO’ Wollin, Bayer 04 have strengthened by bringing in Furkan ‘FURKY’ Kayacik. The 22-year-old impressed in the pre-season and has declared his target following his presentation in an interview with bayer04.de: "I'd like to achieve the maximum in all areas."
The squad is completed by the youngsters Marc ‘MARC_LDW23’ Landwehr and newcomer Paul ‘B04_PAUL’ Degner plus the Women's team goalkeeper Anna ‘B04_ANNA’ Klink.
As in previous years, a matchday evening in the VBL CC this term is a double matchday. That means de Cae and Co. will follow the matches against KSV Holstein from 20.00 CET with games against the Schalke 04 eSports players who finished eleventh in the North West division in 2020/21.
The clashes with the Royal Blues will also be streamed live on the Bayer 04 Twitch channel.

The German Football League (DFL) has announced the three candidates for the title of Bundesliga Rookie of the Month for January. That includes Werkself player Jarell Quansah. Fans of Bayer 04 can vote for their favourite on the Bundesliga app from now until Thursday, 5 January (23:59 CET).
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The Leverkusen eSports team picked up valuable points and made up ground in the overall table with a top four finish in the offline round in Showdown 4 in the VBL Club Championship 2025/26. In the round of 16, Showdown 1 winners Bayer 04 defeated the unbeaten runners-up in the previous round, VfL Bochum, in a thrilling penalty shoot-out. The Landwehr cousins, themselves the current club runners-up, then beat the current club champions and Showdown 3 winners RB Leipzig. It was not until the semi-finals that they lost out to the eventual showdown winners Borussia Mönchengladbach.
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Bayer 04 have agreed a loan move for U19s striker Ken Izekor to join Bundesliga 2 club Eintracht Braunschweig on loan for the rest of the 2025/26 season.
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Bayer 04 have agreed a loan deal for Jeanuel Belocian to join fellow Bundesliga club Wolfsburg on loan until the end of the season. The 20-year-old defender’s contract in Leverkusen runs until 30 June 2029.
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Bayer 04 have recalled Tim Oermann from his loan at Sturm Graz and will now include the centre-back in the team’s plans for the rest of the 2025/26 season. The Germany U21 international signed for the Werkself from Bochum in summer 2025 on a contract until 30 June 2029.
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