All clubs in the Bundesliga and the second division are entitled to take part. 26 clubs will compete in the new season of the VBL – four more than last year. That is a record for the eFootball competition in the 2020/21 season organised by the German Football League (DFL) in cooperation with EA SPORTS.
In 2019/20, Kai ‘DETO’ Wollin and Fabian ‘B04_DUBZJE’ De Cae secured an impressive third-place finish for Bayer 04 in the VBLCC. That qualified the #B04 eSports team for the Grand Final. 'B04_DUBZJE' ended up fifth on Xbox One – that meant he just missed out on qualifying for the Round of 16. 'DETO' rounded off an impressive season as the best FIFA player of the year on PlayStation 4 and he finished with the runners-up title across formats.
Next season starts in November. The fixtures for the new campaign will be published by the DFL at the end of September. All matches will be played on FIFA 21 on the levelled-off mode, which means all players and teams will have the same aggregated strength. As in previous years, the eSports players can qualify via the final table for the VBL play-offs or the Grand Final where an individual player is crowned VBL Champion.
Alongside the Bayer 04 duo, the eSports teams of the following clubs will compete in the VBL Club Championship 2020/21: FC Augsburg, Hertha Berlin, VfL Bochum, Eintracht Braunschweig, Werder Bremen, SV Darmstadt 98, Eintracht Frankfurt, SpVgg Greuther Fürth, Hamburg SV, Hannover 96, FC Heidenheim, TSG Hoffenheim, Holstein Kiel, FC Köln, RB Leipzig, Mainz 05, Borussia Mönchengladbach, FC Nürnberg, SC Paderborn, FC St Pauli, SSV Jahn Regensburg, SV Sandhausen, Schalke 04, VfL Wolfsburg, Würzburger Kickers.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen have appointed Carles Martínez Novell as the new head coach. The 42-year-old Spaniard worked for FC Toulouse in the French Ligue 1 until the end of the season. Martínez finished last term in ninth place with the club from the south of France. He will take over the Werkself on 1 July 2026 and has signed a contract to 30 June 2028. Martínez, whose contract with Toulouse expires at the end of the month, succeeds Kasper Hjulmand at Leverkusen, who is leaving the club after one season.
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Welcome to Leverkusen, Carles Martínez Novell. Bayer 04 have appointed the 42-year-old Spaniard as the new head coach on a contract to 2028. Martínez most recently worked for FC Toulouse in the French Ligue 1 until the end of the season. He previously spent four years at Barcelona's legendary academy La Masia in his home city. Bayer04.de introduces Martínez in more detail.
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Bayer 04 plans for the 2026/27 pre-season continue to take shape. The Werkself will kick off the new season in mid-July with the return to the training ground. The highlight will be the official season opener on 8 August at the BayArena, including a friendly against La Liga club Sevilla. Friendlies in Germany will take the team to neighbouring Monheim, Offenbach and Jena.
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Strengthening the Bayer 04 Leverkusen youth teams: Konstantinos Kotsifakis will join the Werkself from Bundesliga 2 club Hertha Berlin for the 2026/27 season, where he will be a permanent member of the Leverkusen U19 coaching set-up. The German-Greek will also take on an operational role in coaching the Bayer 04 Future Team. The 29-year-old was most recently head coach of the U17s at Hertha Berlin.
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Another award for the Bayer 04 head groundsman and staff: After coming top in the 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2024/25 seasons, the BayArena pitch came second in the Bundesliga Pitch of the Year ranking for the 2025/26 season. VfL Wolfsburg secured the top spot this year, with TSG Hoffenheim in third place.
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