This weekend, the big final tournament of the “FIFA 18” virtual Bundesliga (VBL) will take place in Dortmund. You can follow the prize money and title live on TV this year.
The virtual Bundesliga is the largest national “FIFA 18” tournament in Germany. The winner can call themselves German champion, receives a hefty prize, and has the chance to qualify for the FIFA eWorld Cup.
The final tournament starts on Saturday, March 31, and ends on Sunday, April 1, at the Football Museum in Dortmund. The 24 best German FIFA players will compete against each other in group stage and knockout round.
Tournament Mode and Rules
Out of the 24 participants – 12 each on Xbox and PS4 – 16 qualified through the playoff event in early March. Additionally, there are 7 wildcard winners and defending champion Cihan Yasarlar. Dortmund will gather the best players from over 150,000 players of the virtual Bundesliga.
A total prize pool of €45,000 will be awarded, with €25,000 for the winner, the title of “German FIFA 18 Champion”, and a spot in the Global Series Playoffs in June. Both finalists will receive the latter, giving them the chance to participate in the FIFA eWorld Cup in August and become FIFA World Champion.
On Saturday, the tournament will start with the group stage, followed by the round of 16 – up to the finals. Both consoles will play simultaneously until each platform has a winner. The two winners will then face off in the grand final.
Team Restrictions
The game mode of the virtual Bundesliga is – unlike the qualification via the console at home – the “Ultimate Team” mode.
To ensure that not every professional plays with the same team, mostly consisting of Bayern Munich players, rules were established beforehand. In every FUT team, a maximum of 3 players from one team may play. Additionally, of course, no icons and only players from the Bundesliga are allowed; special cards of the players may be used.
This leads to players having to weigh carefully where to place their “stars” and where to use cards from smaller clubs.
An example:
In goal, the Bundesliga has Manuel Neuer, a goalkeeper who is significantly ahead of others in ratings. Still, many professionals play with Ralf Fährmann – why?
Fährmann masters foot defense – a very useful skill in FIFA 18 to defend flat powerful shots. This makes him nearly equal to Manuel Neuer in the eyes of many players despite weaker stats. Thus, professionals prefer to use their three Bayern players for very strong cards in other positions. Arturo Vidal, Jerome Boateng, Arjen Robben, and David Alaba are very popular.
Live Broadcast on sport1: The Schedule
The entire tournament can be followed as last year in the free livestreams on sport1.de and virtuelle.bundesliga.de. Additionally, this year there will be free TV broadcasts on sport1 for the first time.
As FIFA experts, in addition to the Sport1 commentators, Malte Hedderich and Benny Drexler from bPartGaming will also be present.
5 former VBL winners among the participants
Alongside last year’s winner Cihan Yasarlar, who played for Schalke 04 last year but this year competes in RB Leipzig’s kit, there are four other former German champions participating:
- Kevin Assia (2012/2013 – Hamburger SV)
- Mirza Jahic (2013/2014 – 1.FC Köln)
- Niklas Raseck (2014/2015 – Borussia Dortmund)
- Daniel Butenko (2015/2016 – 1.FC Nürnberg)
Additionally, internationally known names like Timo “TimoX” Siep (VFL Wolfsburg), Tim “Tim Latka” Schwartmann (FC Schalke 04), Michael “Megabit” Bittner (VFL Bochum), and Tim “TheStrxngerR” Katnawatos will also be there.
The YouTuber and newcomer in the eSports scene Danny “Proownez” Liepolt has also made it to the VBL final.
Of the 24 participants, 19 play with the 4-4-2, 4-3-2-1, or the narrow diamond – we have explored these 3 top formations in our guide.
