The Virtual Bundesliga (VBL) returns for EA SPORTS FC™ 24 with a whole new dynamic, as a regular matchday will be held entirely in person instead of online for the first time.
Participating clubs from the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 will come together to play all fixtures of the first matchday of the VBL Club Championship on 18-19 November.
Growing numbers
The VBL Club Championship is a sub-strand of the VBL, and there are more clubs than ever competing, as 35 teams from the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 will take part in the 2023-24 season.
Borussia Dortmund, Sport-Club Freiburg, and FC Bayern München are the new clubs involved from top tier clubs. They are joined by new Bundesliga 2 competitors Fortuna Düsseldorf and 1. FC Magdeburg, as well as the three promoted clubs SV Elversberg, VfL Osnabrück and SV Wehen Wiesbaden.
“The competition has undergone an incredible growth spurt for the new season," Jörg Höflich, Head of Virtual Bundesliga at the DFL, has said. "There are more clubs taking part and more matches being held than ever.
"The Virtual Bundesliga has had a growing following for years, but this gives the league and the clubs an enormous opportunity to make it even more popular. We are planning yet more offline matchdays after the first, because emotions run even higher when the players meet in person. This will also benefit the live broadcasts that we will carry out with our new partner, Spontent.”
The final
A total of 34 matchdays will be played as part of the 2023-24 VBL Club Championship season before the final on 23-24 March 2024.
Not only can players claim the trophy and bragging rights attached to becoming the German VBL Club Champion, but the prize money pool has increased again to reach €87,500.
RB Leipzig lifted the trophy for the second consecutive time in May 2023, while the previous titleholders were 1. FC Heidenheim 1846 and SV Werder Bremen.
The DFL founded the Virtual Bundesliga together with EA SPORTS in 2012, making it the first professional league to launch its own eSports competition, and the latest developments provide another step in evolving the Virtual Bundesliga once more.
In 2018, the decision to launch the VBL Club Championship as a competition for Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 clubs, in addition to the VBL Open competition for all players, was taken in response to the increasing popularity of the VBL, the growing relevance of eSports in general and the DFL’s focus on football simulation games.
Building a squad
Competitors can build their squad from any player that plays their club football in the Bundesliga or Bundesliga 2.
There is a special feature, in which each club can nominate two players from their current team that will become VBL Power Items, with each of those receiving the highest possible rating of 99 for the VBL Club Championship.
This will help to make sure that the club's stars on the pitch also become key players in their team's efforts for glory on the console.
Each club can also indulge in a little nostalgia by selecting one of the Hero Items from the Bundesliga, such as Rudi Völler, Jürgen Kohler or Bixente Lizarazu.
They can also use one German Icon, with Gerd Müller, Lothar Matthäus and Bastian Schweinsteiger among the possible options.
How to watch
All matches of the VBL Club Championship will be broadcast live on the official channels of the VBL (Twitch,TikTok,virtual.bundesliga.com) and Twitch pages of the participating clubs.
Structure
The VBL Open began on 1 November 2023. This part of the competition is open to all interested players and acts as a four-month qualification stage for the VBL Open Playoffs, which brings the VBL Open and the VBL Club Championship together.
The 16 best individual players from the VBL Open each month compete against the qualifiers from the VBL Club Championship.
Winners of the VBL Open Playoffs are rewarded with a place in the VBL Grand Final, where they will play for the title of German VBL Champion.
They can also qualify for further competitions, with the two finalists in the 2024 VBL Grand Final each receiving a place in the FC Pro World Championship. In addition, each of the four semi-finalists will win a place in the eChampions League.
The winner of the 2023 VBL Grand Final and thus reigning German VBL Champion is Antonio Radelja, who will play for VfB Stuttgart in the new season.
