bevestor becomes naming rights partner of the Virtual Bundesliga

9 November 2020 – bevestor is the new naming rights partner of the Virtual Bundesliga (VBL), the eFootball competition organised by DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga. The sponsorship agreement spans two seasons and is effective immediately. As a title sponsor with a partner logo, bevestor, a wholly owned subsidiary of DekaBank, will appear on all shirts as well as on all digital communication platforms and channels of the “bevestor Virtual Bundesliga” as part of the agreement. In addition, the company acquires an extensive rights package for integration in exclusive broadcast segments. These include presenting the weekly highlights of the matches in the VBL Club Championship by bevestor.

The new partnership came about as part of the strategic cooperation between the DFL and ESL, as part of which ESL, the world’s largest eSport company, has received a production and marketing order for the VBL. For the DFL, this recently announced cooperation is about achieving its aim of further developing and professionalising the VBL.

In 2012, the DFL became the first professional football league to have its own eSport competition when it launched the VBL in partnership with EA SPORTS. The VBL is still the only eSport competition of a professional football league to be directly integrated into the EA SPORTS FIFA game series. The VBL has enjoyed steadily growing popularity since its launch, with around 130,000 participants taking part last season. In 2018, the increasing popularity of the VBL, the growing relevance of eSport in general and the DFL’s focus on football simulation games led to the decision to launch the VBL Club Championship, whereby the clubs of the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 compete against one another with their eSport teams, in addition to the VBL Open competition for individual players. The two competitions are brought together, first in the VBL Playoffs by bevestor and then in the VBL Grand Final by bevestor.

The new season of the VBL Club Championship by bevestor is set to commence on Tuesday, 10 November, while the VBL Open by bevestor already kicked off on 1 November.