All you need to know about the 2023/24 VBL Club Championship finals by WOW – Bundesliga
The 2023/24 VBL Club Championship finals by WOW take place on 23 and 24 March at the Strassenkicker Base in Cologne. Players will battle it out on EA SPORTS FC 24, in front of a live audience, for the right to be crowned this year’s German club champion.
eFootball teams of the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 clubs take part in the competition, organised by the DFL, with a record 35 participants involved in this season’s edition. The first four finalists have already qualified via the divisional phase: 1. FSV Mainz 05 and RB Leipzig from the South-East Division and SC Paderborn 07 and SV Werder Bremen from the North-West Division.
VBL Club Championship playoffs
Twelve other teams – Bayer 04 Leverkusen, FC Augsburg, FC Bayern München, F.C. Hansa Rostock, FC Schalke 04, FC St. Pauli, Hamburger SV, Hertha BSC, SC Freiburg, TSG Hoffenheim, VfB Stuttgart and VfL Bochum 1848 – will battle it out in the playoffs on Friday, 22 March, with six remaining places up for grabs at the finals.
– DFL
Information on all fixtures and results of the final tournament, as well as an overview of all teams and players, can be found on the VBL website. Tickets for the finals can be purchased here.
“A thrilling season is entering the home straight: Never before have so many clubs taken part in the VBL Club Championship by WOW, never before have so many clubs taken part in the final weekend,” said Jörg Höflich, Head of Virtual Bundesliga at the DFL. “Thanks to the new finals format, we are looking forward to even more high-calibre matches over the course of the weekend. It starts on Friday with the play-offs, for which FC Bayern Munich and SC Freiburg, two teams competing in the VBL for the first time, have qualified alongside some established VBL participants.”
Format and timings
In the final of the VBL Club Championship, the 10 qualified clubs will initially compete in two groups. The top four from each section will qualify for the quarter-finals and play in a knockout format from there.
- The play-off matches begin on Friday, 22 March at 5pm CET.
- The group stage begins on Saturday, 23 March at 11am CET.
- The remaining group games begin on Sunday, 24 March at 10.30pm CET, followed by the knockout rounds. The championship match is scheduled for around 6.30pm CET.
RB Leipzig are eFootball’s reigning German club champions. They are bidding for a third successive title, after wins in 2022 and 2023.
– DFL
How to watch
All matches, from the play-offs through to the grand final, will be shown live on the Virtual Bundesliga’s Twitch and TikTok profiles, as well as on the official Bundesliga YouTube channel.
Prize money and qualification for individual player competitions
This season, the VBL Club Championship’s prize pot has increased by more than 20 percent to €87,500 (Euros). Qualification for the individual player VBL German Championship is also up for grabs. The top five teams in the final tables in both divisions will each send two players to the VBL Grand Final by WOW. The teams in sixth to 14th, meanwhile, will each send two players to the play-offs of the VBL Open by WOW.
– DFL
VBL Grand Final
In addition to the club competition, the VBL Open is still open to all interested individual players. Since November 2023, the 16 best participants per month have qualified for the VBL Open playoffs. Further qualification places have also been awarded via wildcard tournaments organised by influencers and clubs. They will then face playoffs against the qualifiers from the VBL Club Championship on 6 and 7 April. The winners of the VBL Open Playoffs will advance to the VBL Grand Final. There, from 19 to 21 April, they will not only compete for the title of German eFootball Champion, but also for places in the FC Pro World Championship and the eChampions League.
Winner of the VBL Grand Final 2023, Antonio Radelja of VfB Stuttgart is the reigning individual German champion in eFootball.
About the Virtual Bundesliga by WOW
The DFL founded the Virtual Bundesliga in colloboration with EA SPORTS back in 2012, making it the first ever professional league to launch its own eSports competition. The increasing popularity of the VBL, the growing relevance of eSports in general and the DFL’s focus on football simulations led to the decision in 2018 to launch the ‘VBL Club Championship’ as a competition for Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 clubs, in addition to the ‘VBL Open’ competition, which is open to all players.
