Virtual Bundesliga: Individual players compete for the title of ‘German eFootball Champion’

2 June 2021 – The 2020-21 season in the bevestor Virtual Bundesliga (VBL) will end this weekend with one player being crowned German Champion. After 1. FC Heidenheim 1846 became the German eFootball Club Champion back in March, we will also know the holder of the title among the individual players on Sunday evening. All the key details about the Grand Final by bevestor at a glance:

Schedule

The VBL Grand Final by bevestor will take place from 4 to 6 June. The action will begin at 5:00 p.m. CEST on Friday and at 3:30 p.m. CEST on Saturday. On Sunday, the crucial matches to decide who will become the champion will be held between 5:00 p.m. CEST and 8:00 p.m. CEST. In the interests of protection against infection, the Grand Final will once again take place as an online tournament.

Participants

A total of 32 players – 16 for each console – will compete for the title. Of these, 16 players (eight per console) have qualified for the VBL Grand Final via the VBL Playoffs. 16 further players (likewise eight per console) have qualified via the VBL Club Championship – the competition between eFootballers from the clubs in the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2.

An overview of all participants can be found on the VBL website.

The reigning German Champion in eFootball, Yannic Bederke, during his participation in the VBL Grand Final in 2019 (Photo: Felix Gemein).

Tournament format

Matches will be played on the two consoles PlayStation 4 (16 players) and Xbox One (16 players). First, a winner will be determined for each console. These two players will then go head to head in the final match, in which they will play on both consoles one after the other. The winner of this match will be crowned German Champion in eFootball.
On the specific course of events: To begin with, the 16 participants for each console will play five rounds in the Swiss format. This means that the respective scoreline is recorded after every round and fixtures featuring players with the same win-loss are allocated at random for each following round. Each round consists of a first and second leg. The winner is the player who has scored more goals on aggregate over the two matches. Tied matches will go to extra time and, if necessary, a penalty shoot-out. The matches for the first round have already been drawn and can be seen here.
Once a player suffers a third defeat, they are eliminated from the tournament.
Thus the eight players with the most victories qualify for the knockout phase for each console. In this phase, a winner is determined for each console by means of two-legged matches.
It will be possible to find the current status of each match here.
The matches will be played in ‘FUT mode’, whereby all players can put together their teams from players of Bundesliga clubs. Here, a limit of two players per Bundesliga team applies.

Title and prizes

At the VBL Grand Final, the players compete for prize money as well as the title of German eFootball Champion. This season, the pot of prize money amounts to €100,000 – more than double what it was in the previous year. From this, the German eFootball Champion receives a prize of €40,000. In addition, the DFL awards a total of six seats provided by publisher EA SPORTS for its regional playoffs, at which the best players from various regional tournaments and national leagues compete to be crowned EA SPORTS FIFA 21 Global Series Regional Champion.

The trophy

The current VBL trophy was presented for the first time last season. It is an update to the previous Virtual Bundesliga Trophy and was designed in the style of the Bundesliga Trophy. The V-shaped notches are a nod to the cursor that marks the player currently being controlled in the football simulation. The trophy is made of aluminium on the inside and mainly has an anthracite finish on the outside. After every season, the name of the German eFootball Champion is engraved on the trophy.

The VBL Meisterschale consists of aluminium, the surface essentially has an anthracite look. After each season, the name of the German eFootball Champion is engraved (Photo: DFL / Getty Images / Simon Hofmann).

How can we watch the finals tournament live?

There will be a hosted live show on all three days. You can watch this show and all matches live on the stream at virtual.bundesliga.com/en, on the Twitch account of the VBL and at esports.com.

On Sunday (6 June), ProSieben MAXX will broadcast the semi-final matches on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One as well as the cross-console final live on free TV and on a live stream from 5:00 p.m. CEST.

What was the route to the VBL Grand Final by bevestor?

16 of the total of 32 participants qualified back in March via the VBL Club Championship. 1. FC Heidenheim 1846 secured the title of German Club Champion in eFootball and – like seven other clubs established via the final tables of the VBL Club Championship – is sending two players from its squad to take part in the Grand Final. The four best clubs in each of the final tables of the North-West and South-East divisions of the VBL Club Championship secured this right of participation. You can find information about the outcome of the VBL Club Championship here.

The second half of the starting field for the VBL Grand Final was confirmed on 16 May. Prior to that, 128 players had battled for a place in the individual finals in the VBL Playoffs. 104 of these players qualified in the course of the season via the VBL Open by bevestor, an online competition that is open to all individual players. The remaining places in the VBL Playoffs went to players from the VBL Club Championship depending on where their clubs placed in the final tables. You can find information about the outcome of the VBL Playoffs here.

bevestor Virtual Bundesliga - Tournament Structure — The players have qualified for the VBL Grand Final via the VBL Club Championship or the VBL Playoffs.

About the Virtual Bundesliga:

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 decision to launch the VBL Club Championship with the clubs of the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 in addition to the VBL Open competition for individual players was taken in response to the increasing popularity of the VBL, the growing relevance of eSport in general and the DFL’s focus on football simulation games. The two competitions are brought together, first in the VBL Playoffs and then in the VBL Grand Final. The DFL has also been cooperating with ESL, the world’s largest eSport company since 2020. With its expertise in building up and expanding ecosystems in conjunction with digital sport, the DFL would like to further develop and professionalise the VBL.