bevestor Virtual Bundesliga: What’s new for the 2021-22 season
- VBL Open by bevestor kicks off on November 1
- Cash prizes for VBL Grand Final and VBL Club Championship
- #dabeiTV joins as exclusive media partner
28 October 2021 – The 2021-22 season of the bevestor Virtual Bundesliga (VBL) will begin on 1 November, marking the start of the 10th season of the eFootball competition. The VBL Open by bevestor, which is open to all interested players living in Germany and uses EA SPORTS FIFA 22, is being extended by a month and will now conclude in late March 2022. This means participants will have a total of five months to qualify for the next phase of the competition, the VBL Open Playoffs by bevestor, and advance from playing on their games console at home to making a bid for the prestigious German eFootball championship.
To take part in the VBL Open, players will need a corresponding console (PlayStation 4 or 5, or Xbox One or Series S/X) and the PS4 or Xbox One version of the latest FIFA 22 game. The Virtual Bundesliga can be accessed via the menu navigation. Playing in 90 mode as their preferred Bundesliga club, players must complete 60 matches in a calendar month; in the previous year, the requirement was 90 matches. Each month, 20 players – the best ten on each platform – will qualify for the VBL Open Playoffs, which serve as the preliminary stage for the VBL Grand Final by bevestor. A further four places in the VBL Open Playoffs will be available to players via selected community tournaments. As well as the coveted trophy for the winner, this year’s Grand Final boasts a total cash prize pool of €100,000.
New in the VBL Club Championship: Cash prize and media partner
The eSport teams from 26 Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 clubs will take part in the VBL Club Championship by bevestor, playing FIFA 22 to determine the German eFootball club champion. This competition also comes with a cash prize for the first time, with a prize pool totalling €65,000. All of the matches in the Virtual Bundesliga Club Championship will be played on the latest generation of the two consoles, the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series S/X.
Another new feature is the media partnership with #dabeiTV. The channel, which is run by the Cologne-based company sporttotal.tv gmbh and available on Deutsche Telekom’s MagentaTV, will broadcast matches from the VBL Club Championship on each Tuesday and Wednesday matchday. The contract was concluded by ESL Gaming, the world’s largest eSport company, with which DFL has had a partnership since 2020.
The matchdays and fixtures, the composition of the North-West and South-East divisions and the corresponding tables can be seen on the redesigned VBL website. The first two double matchdays of the season will take place from 6pm on 9-10 November. The final of the German eFootball club championship will be held on 26-27 March, 2022.
The VBL Open and the VBL Club Championship are brought together in the VBL Grand Final by bevestor. The VBL Grand Final will take place at the beginning of June 2022, when an individual player will be crowned German champion. Three places will also be awarded for the EA SPORTS FIFA Global Series 22 1vs1 Playoffs, which will be held using the PlayStation 5 console.