In the nine-year history of the official eSports Bundesliga of the DFL German Football League, the teams played are in two sections for the 2020/21 season. The divisions are divided regionally into North-West and South-East. The console players of the first and second division clubs play 26 games on their respective leagues with first and second half seasons as in the Bundesliga.
The #B04eSports players secured fifth place in the North-West section with 109 points. That qualifies the team for the Final Chance round. The teams finishing from third to sixth in both divisions face each other as they battle for a place in the VBL Grand Final. The top two teams in the two sections have already qualified for the finals tournament.
The Bayer 04 eSports players finished their division with a final flurry of excellence to confirm their ambition to the Grand Final. Three overall wins and three overall draws were the results for the Black and Reds on the last six matchdays in the North-West section of the VBL Club Championship. “In the end, we gathered all our strength to achieve our target of finishing in the top six,” said Fabian De Cae, Xbox player at Bayer 04. ‘B04_DUBZJE’ along with Kai ‘DETO’ Wollin and youngster Marc ‘MARC_LDW23’ Landwehr plus Anna ‘B04_ANNA’ Klink are the console quartet at the Werkself.
There are four slots in the VBL Grand Final available via the Final Chance round. Leverkusen will face the fourth-placed team in the South-East division, TSG Hoffenheim (from 17.45 CET live on the Bayer 04 Twitch channel and on Instagram). Hoffenheim are in their first season in the VBL and they picked up a total of 99 points. “They have produced impressive performances in their debut season,” said Wollin in praise of the forthcoming opponents. “But our target is clear: We want to come out on top against Hoffenheim with our experience and quality and go through to the Grand Final.”
While the league matches involve 1 v 1 games on both PlayStation 4 and Xbox plus a 2 v 2, the eSports players face a new format in the Final Chance round. The knockout games are a best of three. The first match is a 2 v 2 game. TSG choose the console for the opening game as the better placed club.
That will be followed by a 1 v 1 on the other console. If there is no winner after these two games then there will be a decider on the console not used in the first 1 v 1. If that fails to produce a victor then there will be another 2 v 2 on the console not used in the first 2 v 2.
The VBL Grand Final will be held on 27 and 28 March.
The meeting between fifth and sixth on Saturday afternoon (17 January, 15:30 CET) is a hard one to predict. While the Werkself can take confidence from their historic record at TSG Hoffenheim, the hosts are currently enjoying their second-best Bundesliga campaign and have lost just one of their last 10 games. Another good omen for Bayer 04: Daniel Schlager also refereed Leverkusen's last victory in Sinsheim (4-1). The Matchday News.
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At the end of the winter training camp in Portugal, the Bayer 04 Women convincingly mastered their friendly ahead of the start of the second half of the season. In the match against Swiss league leaders Servette FCCF, coach Roberto Pätzold's team won 3-0 at the Monte Gordo Sports Complex. Carlotta Wamser (4’), Vanessa Fudalla (18’) and Loreen Bender (53’) scored for Bayer 04, who have been preparing for the Rückrunde in the Algarve since last Saturday.
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The German Football League (DFL) has rescheduled the postponed fixture at Hamburger SV on Bundesliga matchday 17. The match, due to be played on Tuesday, has now been rescheduled for Wednesday, 4 March (kick-off: 20:30 CET).
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The Rückrunde is about to begin: The Werkself travel to TSG Hoffenheim on Saturday, 17 January (kick-off: 15:30 CET) on Bundesliga matchday 18. At the pre-match press conference on Friday lunchtime, head coach Kasper Hjulmand emphasised the double anticipation for the clash following Tuesday's postponement of the fixture at Hamburger SV. And he also talked about the tactical approach against an opponent on course for Champions League qualification.
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TSG Hoffenheim have had a tremendous season so far and are in absolute top form going into the new year. After another outstanding display against Borussia Mönchengladbach on Wednesday, TSG went above Bayer 04 in the table. On Saturday, 17 January (kick-off: 15:30 CET), coach Christian Ilzer's team will be looking to continue their run in the league against the Werkself. The lowdown on our next opponents.
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