
Six teams compete at the Western German finals for two places in the national Over 40s tournament to be held in the capital next year. Bayer 04, as the Middle Rhine champions, are joined by runners-up FC Hennef plus Arminia Bielefeld, VfB Salzkotten, VfB Speldorf and SF Niederwenigern in Duisburg. "They may not be the biggest names in football but will definitely prove to be very tough opponents," said Bayer 04 manager Dirk Dreher. The games, lasting 20 minutes, are played on a small pitch with rolling substitutions with each team having five outfield players plus a goalkeeper from a 12-man squad.
"There are one or two question marks in our squad but we’ll definitely field a very strong team determined to get to Berlin," said Dreher. Mike Rietpietsch, Thorsten Judt, Markus Happe and Marcus Feinbier have already confirmed, as has goalkeeper Daniel Galic, plus Carsten Baumann, Marc Bach, Zülfi Simsek and Christoph Chylla who are also in the Bayer 04 squad.
The Veterans have warmed up for the U40 showdown in Duisburg with two games in the local area. There was a hard-fought 6-4 win against a younger team from Eschweiler with goals from Marcus Feinbier (3). Hans-Peter Lehnhoff (2) and Marcel Podszus. While the hosts had no player over the age of 33, the 36-year-old Bayer 04 honorary skipper Simon Rolfes was the youngest member of the Werkself team that also included Erik Meijer (see photo above). Bayer 04 then went on to lose 5-3 in Zülpich against a team from Düren and Euskirchen. Feinbier (2) and Marko Schröder scored for Leverkusen.

Werkself TV shows highlights of the 3-0 win against FC Villarreal on matchday 8 in the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 league phase...
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The Champions League journey continues! On the eighth and final matchday of the league phase of the UEFA Champions League 2025/26, Bayer 04 secured their place in the play-offs with a commanding 3-0 win over Villarreal. Malik Tillman put in a mature and combative performance for Leverkusen, scoring a brace (12', 35') to make it 2-0 at the break, while Alejandro Grimaldo (57') and plenty of control of the game did the rest in the second half. The draw for the Werkself's next UCL opponents will take place on Friday 30 January at 12:00 CET.
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The Leverkusen eSports team played the remaining three of the six matches in the online preliminary round of the fourth showdown in the VBL Club Championship 2025/26. RB Leipzig and SC Freiburg were among the teams with the highest goal threat, including two World Cup participants in their ranks. Although the #B04eSports players were defeated in the matches overall, nine points from the first three games last week were enough for Leverkusen to advance to the offline round in Berlin on 2 February.
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A decisive showdown awaits: The Werkself are aiming to progress to the play-off round of the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League with a home win against Villarreal CF on the eighth and final matchday of the league phase. Ahead of the match on Wednesday, 28 January (kick-off: 21:00 CET), coach Kasper Hjulmand spoke about the importance of the game, the possible return of Edmond Tapsoba and a statement from new signing Jonas Omlin in an exclusive interview with Werkself TV. Lucas Vázquez, for his part, spoke about his role on and off the pitch as well as tomorrow’s opponents, who he often faced in Spain with Real Madrid.
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