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.
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Nine matches against teams from nine countries, two penalty shoot-outs won, and encounters that went far beyond football: As with last year, the Inklusionswerkself enjoyed an extraordinary week at the Genuine Cup 2026 in Houston, USA, and made memories that will last a lifetime. This year, the Leverkusen side took part as Germany’s official representatives and, accordingly, took to the pitch in Germany kit. Together with 53 teams from 53 nations, the Black and Reds once again sent a powerful message of inclusion and participation – and also impressed on the pitch by winning their group.
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The Werkself training camp in the Weimarer Land all in one place: in our daily blog, you’ll find all the insights and updates from the day. The programme for day two (Monday, 3 August) centres on two training sessions – one in the morning (open to the public) and one in the early evening (behind closed doors) – at the nearby training grounds. In the afternoon, fans can look forward to a big fan meet-up with club legend Paulo Sergio at Schloss Blankenhain.
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