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.
Video game producer Electronic Arts (EA) has announced the nominees for the Men's and Women's Team of the Year (TOTY) for EA Sports FC 26. With Patrik Schick and Alejandro Grimaldo for the men and Vanessa Fudalla for the women, there are three Bayer 04 players included. Fans of the Black-and-Reds can vote for each top XI of 2025 from now until 18:59 CET on Monday 12 January.
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The Werkself host Mainz at the BayArena on matchday 24 in the 2025/26 Bundesliga season. The match is on Saturday, 28 February, at 15:30 CET. Information on ticket sales.
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The long-standing successful collaboration between Bayer 04 and the transport service provider wupsi GmbH has been expanded: From January 2026, 100 wupsi bikes with Bayer 04 branding will be available for hire throughout the city of Leverkusen. They will complement the many existing offers and services that provide key support, especially for fans travelling to and from home matches at the BayArena.
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The Werkself are back! Following the two-week winter break, head coach Kasper Hjulmand's team began the new year with an open session on Sunday. After Robert Andrich and his teammates arrived in Leverkusen yesterday for the official check-in, they got back down to business a day later in front of around 1,200 fans at the Ulrich Haberland Stadion. The report from the Werkself's first session of 2026.
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