Third place in the team competition plus Kai ‘DETO’ Wollin as the best PlayStation player of the year – the #B04eSports players can go into the new campaign with plenty of confidence. “We want to build on the performances and wins, compete for the title and ideally win it,” said Florian Dederichs, head of eSports at Bayer 04.
For the first time in the still short history of the competition, the participants are divided into two groups according to geography for the forthcoming third season: The ‘North West division’ with Bayer 04 and the ‘South East division’ each have 13 clubs from the Bundesliga and the second division. There will be home and away games between all the clubs. Leverkusen’s division includes seven of the best eight teams in from the last VBL CC season.
From the final tables of the two groups, a total of four teams qualify for the Grand Final – the first and second teams in each. The clubs in positions three to six in each division have the chance to go through to the finals on 27 and 28 March via a play-off – and the opportunity to be the new club champions.
The individual matches will played on EA SPORTS FIFA 21 and, as last season, will be staged in a Davis Cup format: Two games are played one-against-one – one on PlayStation 4 and one on Xbox One. The third clash is two-against- two on the console chosen by the home club.
About the VBL:
In 2012, the DFL, in cooperation with EA SPORTS, set up the Virtual Bundesliga (VBL) as the first professional football league to establish an eSport competition. The increasing popularity of the VBL plus the growing relevance of eSport and the focus of the DFL on computer football led to the decision in 2018 to also introduce an individual player competition the VBL Open and the VBL Club Championship with clubs in the Bundesliga and second division. Both competitions are brought together initially in the VBL Play-offs and then the VBL Grand Final.
In glorious sunshine and temperatures of around 30 degrees Celsius, the Bayer 04 Women have begun their preparations for the new season. With a relaxed first session at the Kurtekotten training centre, coach Roberto Pätzold’s team became the first Bundesliga side to resume training after a 37-day break.
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Black and Red stand out. Under the slogan ‘Diversity under the Cross’, Bayer 04 took part in Pride on the Rhine at the weekend alongside the queer fan club “Bayer 04 Junxx”. The club mascot, Brian the Lion, and several members of staff were also in attendance, championing diversity and solidarity.
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Centre-back Melissa Friedrich is set to remain at Bayer 04 for another year. The longest-serving player in the squad, who joined the club in 2016, has extended her contract to 2027.
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen have signed Portugal U21 international Afonso Moreira. The 21-year-old winger joins the club from French top-flight side Olympique Lyon on a contract to 30 June 2031. In France last year, the left-winger made 37 appearances in Ligue 1, the Coupe de France and the UEFA Europa League, scoring a total of eight goals and providing eleven assists.
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