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.
Rüdiger Vollborn has been at the club for 40 years, he holds the record number of Bundesliga appearances for the club (401) and is the only Bayer 04 player to have won both the UEFA Cup (1988) and the DFB Pokal (1993). And the Berliner stayed with the Werkself after ending his impressive playing career as he worked as a goalkeeping coach for the following nine years. Vollborn now works under the Bayer Cross as a fan liaison officer and club archivist. Since February 2021, the personalised Black and Red lexicon takes Werkself fans under the heading of 'Rudi recounts...' on a brief trip through the history of Bayer 04 every month.
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Kasper Hjulmand has led the Werkself back to winning ways and is back in the knockout phase of the UEFA Champions League with Bayer 04 after the 3-0 win against Villarreal on Wednesday evening. In an interview with the Werkself magazine at the BayArena in the team meeting room, directly opposite the dressing room, he provided some special insights for the current issue, which was published in January. A conversation with the 53-year-old coach about values, attitudes and personal experiences as well as interests outside of football.
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The thrilling 3-1 win for Bayer 04 against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Hinrunde is a fond memory for Alejandro Grimaldo, with his brace from free kicks, and coach Kasper Hjulmand, who was in the dugout under the Cross for the first time. Now comes the return fixture in the metropolis on the River Main and after going out of the DFB Pokal and the Champions League, the full focus at Eintracht, currently managed by two interim coaches, is now on the Bundesliga. For their part, the Werkself will do everything in their power to continue the longest winning run against a Bundesliga club. The matchday news.
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Bayer 04 have ended Artem Stepanov’s loan deal at Nürnberg and agreed a new loan to Utrecht in the Netherlands. The Ukrainian striker did not play as much as hoped for at the Bundesliga 2 club and will now continue his development in the Eredivisie for the rest of 2025/26.
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The draw for the knockout play-offs of the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League was made on Friday, 30 January and saw Bayer 04 paired with Olympiacos. It’s a reunion with the Greek side following the Werkself’s 2-0 loss in Athens on Matchday 7 of the league phase.
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