#B04eSports: Leverkusen hunger for DFB ePokal trophy

Qualification via historic win

Last October, the cousins Sean 'SEAN_LDW07'“ Landwehr and Marc 'MARC_LDW23' Landwehr not only made German eSports history by winning the first showdown in the revamped VBL Club Championship - the title also meant a place in the final event of the DFB ePokal powered by ERGO, the eFootball competition of the German Football Association (DFB) since 2021.

In addition to the Bayer 04 eSports players, the winners of the three other VBL CC showdowns, the eSports teams from RB Leipzig, Borussia Mönchengladbach and FC St. Pauli, as well as four community teams will be travelling to the DFB Campus in Frankfurt. The eCup winners of 2025 FOKUS, who the Leverkusen team face in the quarter-finals, prevailed against other eSports teams from all over Germany in ‘Community qualifier’ events, as did RBLZ Gaming International, the St. Pauli eAcademy and MBC eSports.

Marc Landwehr: „Top motiviert, den Titel zu holen“

Following their quarter-final exit in the VBL CC Final against title contenders SC Freiburg, the Landwehr cousins are looking to defeat one of the favourites in the quarter-finals of the DFB ePokal: The opponents FOKUS are the eSports team from Delay Sports Berlin, a football club founded by influencers whose president, Elias ‘EliasN97’ Nerlich, is one of Germany's biggest livestreamers. Although the #B04-eSports players face the defending champions, Marc Landwehr is "highly motivated to bring the title to Leverkusen."

Kick-off for the quarter-final match between Bayer 04 and FOKUS is at 18:15 CET on Friday, 20 March. A potential semi-final would be played on Saturday, 21 March, as would the final. If you want to support the Leverkusen console pros live at the DFB Campus in Frankfurt, you can still get tickets for the finals HERE. Anyone who wants to follow the action from home can watch the games live on the DFB official Twitch channel (dfb_official).

95 format and squad rules

The DFB ePokal matches are played in the 95 format, where every player in the game has an overall rating of 95 regardless of their positional advantages and disadvantages. The competition differs from the VBL CC, which is played in ‘Ultimate team’ format. While the professional VBL teams have to compete with the squad of their respective club, the other four participants are allowed to put together a squad of players from the Bundesliga, Bundesliga 2 and Bundesliga 3.

The two eSports players of the duelling teams then compete against each other simultaneously in ‘best-of-two format’; whoever has the better overall result - with the better goal difference in the case of one win each - goes through to the next round. In the event of a tie, there will be a deciding match. Of the total prize money of €65,000, the ePokal winners can look forward to picking up €30,000. Further information on the structure of the DFB-ePokal can be found HERE and on the official DFB-ePokal website.