VBL: More match weeks and increased attention for the individual matches
11 September 2024 – The VBL Club Championship by WOW kicks off the 2024-25 season on 22 and 23 October. At the start of the new season, the eSports teams of the clubs will meet again offline for the first matchday of the two divisions North-West and South-East. The game will be played in EA SPORTS FC 25.
Two VBL newcomers
Compared to the previous year, the number of participating clubs remains constant at 35. The three teams promoted to Bundesliga 2 are new: Preußen Münster and SSV Ulm are playing in the VBL Club Championship for the first time, while Jahn Regensburg are back. VfL Osnabrück, F.C. Hansa Rostock and SV Wehen Wiesbaden, on the other hand, are no longer in the squad after their relegations from the 2nd Bundesliga.
Dates
The general schedule provides for the teams to compete against each other in the division phase this season in a simple series, and no longer in a two-legged match. At the same time, there will only be one match per day per team in the future2, the previous multiple match days will be eliminated. The number of game weeks in which live matches are played will increase from 14 to 17, in a normal competition week then played on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
The division phase will be completed by the beginning of March 2025. The playoffs will take place on 18 and 19 March 2025 and the final of the VBL Club Championship on 22 and 23 March 2025. In addition to the championship trophy and the title of German Club Champion in eFootball, there is a total prize money pool of 87,500 euros at stake. SC Paderborn had secured the trophy for the first time in the previous season.
Broadcasts in the form of watch party and official VBL show
The VBL Club Championship matches on Tuesday and Wednesday will be broadcast live on the official VBL channels (Twitch TikTok, virtual.bundesliga.com). On Thursday, which will be added as an additional matchday, a specially produced VBL show will look back on the previous matchday action and broadcast a conference with two matches from each division. The official VBL show can be followed as usual via the VBL channels. Spontent will continue to be responsible for media production.
“The Virtual Bundesliga thrives on the fact that we continue to develop it year after year and listen very carefully to the feedback of the fans. This time, too, there are decisive innovations. The start of the season will take place earlier than ever before and thus much closer to the release of the new EA SPORTS FC game. By adding more match weeks, we are reducing the VBL-free period. There are more individual match days, which allows for a better focus on the individual games and with watch parties, we bring the community closer together. All of these are measures taken by the clubs and the DFL to make the VBL Club Championship even more attractive for fans,” said Jörg Höflich, Head of Virtual Bundesliga at the DFL.
All of these are measures taken by the clubs and the DFL to make the VBL Club Championship even more attractive for fans.
Jörg Höflich, Head of Virtual Bundesliga at the DFL
“Ultimate Team” mode and special items
The Virtual Bundesliga is played in the football simulation EA SPORTS FC 25. The game will be played in the “Ultimate Team” mode, in which participants can put together their teams from players from all clubs in the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2. A special feature is that each club is allowed to name two players from its own current football squad as so-called “VBL Power Items” – the player items of these two players will receive the highest OVR rating of 99 in the VBL Club Championship. Thus, the outstanding players on the virtual pitch will each be club-owned player personalities. In addition, each club can also use a “Hero item” from the Bundesliga (for example Tomas Rosicky, Bixente Lizarazu, or Dimitar Berbatov) and a German “ICON item” (for example Gerd Müller, Lothar Matthäus, or Bastian Schweinsteiger).
VBL Open by WOW
The VBL Open by WOW will also start on 1 November 2024. This part of the competition is open to all interested players and allows them to qualify for the playoffs of the VBL Open by WOW over a period of four months. The VBL Open and the VBL Club Championship will be merged there – the best individual players of the VBL Open will meet the qualifiers of the VBL Club Championship. Whoever is successful in the VBL Open Playoffs will advance to the VBL Grand Final by WOW, where the German Champion in eFootball will be crowned among the individual players in April 2025. The title holder and thus reigning German champion is Jonas “Jonny” Wirth, who was victorious in the VBL Grand Final last season as a player for SC Paderborn.
