128 eSports players took part in the VBL play-offs at the weekend. Their target: the VBL Grand Final. They had to go through five so-called Swiss Rounds with first and second legs. All participants with a maximum of two defeats went through to the Round of 32. After that there was only the one hurdle of the Round of 16 before qualifying for the finals.
Three Leverkusen eSports players started in the play-offs: ‘DETO’ and ‘MARC_LDW23’ on PlayStation 4, ‘B04_DUBZJE’ on Xbox. The latter went through to the knockout rounds with three wins in the five Swiss Rounds. His Black and Red teammates failed to qualify for the Round of 32 in the tournament.
In the Round of 32, the Leverkusen Xbox player De Cae went through against Justin ‘GODLY’ Kampmeier with a 4-2 win (2-2, 2-0). He just needed another victory on Sunday night to go through to the finals.
The opponent in the Round of 16 was Christoph ‘CHRISSI291’ Strietzel. The first match against the Hertha Berlin 20-year-old eSports player ended in a clear 4-1 defeat. ‘B04_DUBZJE’ refused to give up and fought hard in the second game. A 3-1 win was secured after 90 virtual minutes – the #B04eSports player only needed one more goal to force the tie into extra-time and another strike would have put him through to the VBL Grand Final.
This year’s VBL season is over for Leverkusen. The #B04eSports team will play friendlies and exhibition matches against other clubs in the coming weeks. That starts with a friendly on Friday, 21 May against Borussia Dortmund. From 20.00 CEST, the final Bundesliga match of the season will be simulated on on consoles. All matches will be broadcast live as usual on the Bayer 04 Twitch channel.
This summer there will also be a range of tournaments and formats for our fans on Twitch, with viewers able to demonstrate their own talent on the consoles, before preparations start for FIFA 22.
The German Football League (DFL) has announced the three candidates for Bundesliga ‘Rookie of the Month’ for February. Among the candidates is Werkself player Jarell Quansah. Fans of Bayer 04 can vote for their favourite on the Bundesliga app from now until Thursday, 5 March (23:59 CET).
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On a day that celebrated 50 years of official Bayer 04 fan clubs with festivities on the pitch during the match against FSV Mainz 05 on Saturday, New York-based Werkself Warriors were proudly represented on the field by co-founder Alex Kramm.
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The Werkself conceded a goal at home for the first time since the beginning of January 67 minutes into the game against FSV Mainz 05 on Saturday. Jarell Quansah levelled late on for the final score of 1-1 to secure a point and avoid a first home defeat in six games. Bayer 04 were very critical of their performance after the game. The Werkself review.
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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 personalised 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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