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 and Olympiacos had only met twice before the current UEFA Champions campaign. After the encounter on Matchday 7 of this season’s league phase, the Werkself travel to face the Greek side for the second time in just four weeks for the knockout play-off first leg. The Black and Reds were dominant for large spells in mid-January but lost 2-0 after missing a number of presentable chances. The Werkself aim to do better on Wednesday night to “seize the chance for revenge,” as managing director sport Simon Rolfes put it. Here’s all you need to know ahead of the game in our matchday news.
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A bitter end to the fifth showdown of the 2025/26 VBL Club Championship as the #B04eSports team failed to take any points in the three remaining matches of the preliminary online round of the fifth and final showdown, missing out on the offline round. They can no longer take points in the overall table. Bayer 04 slipped out on the top eight, so direct participation in the final event for the German Club Championship is no longer possible, with Bayer 04 having to contest the play-offs.
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A rematch in Athens: On Wednesday, 18 February (kick-off: 21:00 CET), the Werkself face Greek double winners Olympiacos for the second time this season at the Karaiskakis Stadium. After the encounter in the league phase, it's now time for the first leg of the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League play-offs. Ahead of the game, head coach Kasper Hjulmand spoke about how his side will approach the clash, while captain Robert Andrich explained how the team will try to dampen the atmosphere in the stadium tomorrow.
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With the much-celebrated 2-1 derby win against 1. FC Köln, the Bayer 04 Women underlined their credentials as one of the top teams in the Bundesliga. Anyone wishing to support the Werkself in the stadium in the race for third place can now purchase tickets for the home match against FC Carl Zeiss Jena. Tickets are also still available for the upcoming clash against TSG Hoffenheim at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium on Sunday, 22 February. The latest information at a glance.
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Let's give it our all one more time! Today, Tuesday 17 February (live on the VBL Twitch channel from 18:00 CET), the #B04eSports team play the remaining three preliminary round matches of the fifth and final showdown of the VBL Club Championship 2025/26. The Leverkusen console pros go up against 1. FC Nürnberg, 1. FC Magdeburg and Bayern Munich, aiming to secure their place in the offline knockout round and pick up valuable points for the overall table and the battle to get into the final event for the German Club Championship. The lowdown on our next opponents.
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