At the Paralympics in Paris, seven Leverkusen players were part of the national team that finished fourth. It goes without saying that national coach Christoph Herzog will also be on site at the PVE 2025 Champions Cup Men to support the boys - at the final national team training camp in Celle, he even had the Bayer players train separately so that they could practise for the Champions Cup.

What does the Champions Cup in Leverkusen mean to German sitting volleyball?

The Champions Cup was already held in Dresden in 2023, but now it will be even more visible. Thanks to the new playing system, the Champions Cup is the highest club tournament there is, and Leverkusen absolutely belongs there. In mid-June, we have the Golden Nations League in Kienbaum, the highest ranking tournament after the European Championships, and I'm glad that we're back on the map in terms of hosting tournaments. There has also been the LE Cup in Leipzig with international teams for many years. But a ParaVolley Europe tournament is a whole different level and also great training for the national players.

Who will win, and where will Leverkusen finish?

I definitely see Leverkusen's chances in the final. Defending champions OKI Fantomi will be tough to beat, but Leverkusen came close last year. I suspect that Leverkusen will meet Lukavac in the semi-finals and then Fantomi in the final. I wouldn't be surprised if our boys have a really good day, but experience shows that Fantomi simply has a different attacking and blocking level.

The European Championships will take place in Györ, Hungary, from July 23 to August 3. What are your next stops?

We have a lot of club tournaments coming up, then we'll fly to the Sarajevo Open at the end of May, where we'll also play against SPID and Fantomi outside the tournament. We want to live sitting volleyball intensively there for 4 days. At the beginning of June, before the Golden Nations League, we'll be back in Wrocław to play a few games with Poland. Then the Golden Nations League, then time off, then a training camp in Leverkusen and at the end of July we'll fly to Budapest for the European Championships. After that, we'll also go to the World Cup in the USA in mid-October. It's not bad at all to play the teams outside Europe again in the year before the World Cup.

How has the squad changed since the Paralympics?

Thomas Renger and Jürgen Schrapp have retired, and Francis Tonleu is also not available this season for work reasons. These are three guys who played a lot in Paris, so the team structure and atmosphere is completely different now. But it's good for the way we want to go with the younger players. We have three new players, one is 22, one is 21 and one is 15. This year is perfect for the small transition, the younger players are at a decent level. At 30 years old and younger, we can put together a good six-man team, not many in Europe can do that, so we're positive about the future.

What is your goal for the European Championships?

To become European champions, that's why we're going. The plan is to beat Ukraine and get to the final to face Bosnia. And then win one more set than at the last European Championships in Italy, when we were 2:1 up in the final against Bosnia and lost in the tie-break.

Picture from Oliver Heuser / TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen:

The German team in Paris with head coach Christoph Herzog (standing, third from left) and seven Leverkusen players.