After the five showdowns, Leverkusen narrowly missed out on a direct place in the final round. As ninth in the overall table (places 1-8 secured direct entry), Bayer 04 had to take part in the play-offs, where the clubs in places 9-24 played to determine the remaining eight teams for the final round. The Black and Reds came out on top against SV Darmstadt 98 to book their ticket for the event in Hamburg. And so the runners-up from the previous season, Bayer 04, have a chance of a major success, which could round off what has been an exciting season so far with ups and downs.
the season so far for Bayer 04
The VBL completely restrucured the tournament for the new season. Showdowns instead of divisions were the yardstick on the route to the final round. Each showdown consisted of an online preliminary round and an offline main round, and a new, separate table was created for each showdown. In the end, the points from all online and offline rounds were added together and calculated to create an overall table, which decided who made it to the final round.
Bayer 04 made its mark in the history books early on. As winners of the first showdown in VBL history, the Leverkusen team achieved a great success. On their way, Marc and Sean Landwehr defeated the club and individual champions of the 2023/24 season SC Paderborn 07 and the current club champions RB Leipzig, among others. Just a few months earlier, Bayer 04 had been beaten by the top eSports team in the final and had to settle for the runners-up spot. In the showdown one final, however, ‘revenge’ was achieved, as a visibly happy Sean Landwehr explained afterwards. "We left everything on the pitch and fought every minute. It's even better to be rewarded for that in the end and to celebrate winning a title." said cousin Marc Landwehr.
However, the great triumph was followed by two sobering showdowns, with the Leverkusen team missing out on a place in the offline round both times. However, with fresh energy and great ambition, the Landwehr duo put in another strong performance in the fourth event, advancing to the offline round and once again defeating RB Leipzig. The semi-finals marked the end against the eventual showdown winners Borussia Mönchengladbach.
The inconsistent performances continued throughout the final and fifth showdown. While Leverkusen won all of their first three preliminary round matches and were therefore well on their way to securing a place in the top eight of the overall table, they scored zero points in the remaining three preliminary round duels. The Black and Reds missed out on the offline round and eighth place in the overall table by just one (!) point.
HSV: Hanseatic TEAM in three showDowns
In the end, Leverkusen had to make that eighth place available for Hamburger SV, who the Landwehr cousins will now face in the Round of 16. For their part, the Hanseatic side made it to a showdown three times during the season. After missing out on the two events at the start of the season, HSV took part in the third showdown for the first time, losing to eventual winners Leipzig in the quarter-finals. In the fourth showdown, HSV made it to the quarter-finals again, this time losing to SC Freiburg, who, as the showdown five winners and first in the overall table with strong eSports players in their ranks, are among the top favourites for the club title. In the fifth showdown, HSV were eliminated in the Round of 16 by VfB Stuttgart, who are also in the final round thanks to a play-off win.
every game counts – Live on Twitch
While the final round was held in Cologne in previous years, this season it will be held in Hamburg at XPERION for the first time. The format of the final event has also changed slightly this season. While last year's final round still featured group stages and intermediate rounds before the big final, there are now only knockout matches from the Round of 16 to the final - whoever loses is out! The entire bracket with the potential opponents can be found HERE.
All Round of 16 matches will be played on Saturday, 7 March. The match between Bayer 04 and HSV starts at 19:30 CET. All other rounds will follow the next day - until the German Club Champion has been decided. All matches in the VBL CC final round will bb broadcast live on the VBLTwitch channel on both days. Fans of eSports can also watch the matches live free of charge at XPERION in Hamburg.
