In the nine-year history of the official eSports Bundesliga of the DFL German Football League, the teams played are in two sections for the 2020/21 season. The divisions are divided regionally into North-West and South-East. The console players of the first and second division clubs play 26 games on their respective leagues with first and second half seasons as in the Bundesliga.
The #B04eSports players secured fifth place in the North-West section with 109 points. That qualifies the team for the Final Chance round. The teams finishing from third to sixth in both divisions face each other as they battle for a place in the VBL Grand Final. The top two teams in the two sections have already qualified for the finals tournament.
The Bayer 04 eSports players finished their division with a final flurry of excellence to confirm their ambition to the Grand Final. Three overall wins and three overall draws were the results for the Black and Reds on the last six matchdays in the North-West section of the VBL Club Championship. “In the end, we gathered all our strength to achieve our target of finishing in the top six,” said Fabian De Cae, Xbox player at Bayer 04. ‘B04_DUBZJE’ along with Kai ‘DETO’ Wollin and youngster Marc ‘MARC_LDW23’ Landwehr plus Anna ‘B04_ANNA’ Klink are the console quartet at the Werkself.
There are four slots in the VBL Grand Final available via the Final Chance round. Leverkusen will face the fourth-placed team in the South-East division, TSG Hoffenheim (from 17.45 CET live on the Bayer 04 Twitch channel and on Instagram). Hoffenheim are in their first season in the VBL and they picked up a total of 99 points. “They have produced impressive performances in their debut season,” said Wollin in praise of the forthcoming opponents. “But our target is clear: We want to come out on top against Hoffenheim with our experience and quality and go through to the Grand Final.”
While the league matches involve 1 v 1 games on both PlayStation 4 and Xbox plus a 2 v 2, the eSports players face a new format in the Final Chance round. The knockout games are a best of three. The first match is a 2 v 2 game. TSG choose the console for the opening game as the better placed club.
That will be followed by a 1 v 1 on the other console. If there is no winner after these two games then there will be a decider on the console not used in the first 1 v 1. If that fails to produce a victor then there will be another 2 v 2 on the console not used in the first 2 v 2.
The VBL Grand Final will be held on 27 and 28 March.
Having progressed to the DFB Pokal Round of 16, the Bayer 04 Women do not have much time before their next Bundesliga fixture. On Friday night (18:30 CEST), coach Roberto Pätzold’s side kick off matchday six at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium against Werder Bremen – and they have a clear mission.
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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 working 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 personal 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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Bayer 04 host top French club Marseille at the BayArena on matchday four in the 2026/27 UEFA Europa League group stage. The match kicks off on Thursday 5 November at 21:00 CET. The latest information on ticket sales.
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During the international break, Bayer 04 will face third-division newcomers SC Fortuna Köln on Friday 2 October (kick-off: 11:00 CEST). The match will be played on training pitch 1 at the BayArena, as preparations are already underway at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium for the Bayer 04 women’s Bundesliga home match against Werder Bremen, which is due to kick off in the early evening. To ensure the friendly against Fortuna Köln runs smoothly and without disruption, it will be played behind closed doors.
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