As GamePro reported just under a year ago, the #GermanFootballLeague (#DFL) had been planning for some time to establish its #VirtualBundesliga (#VBL) eSports competition as another mainstay alongside the 1st Bundesliga and 2nd Bundesliga. Now the time has come, as eSports will quite officially become part of the organization’s “Statutes, Preamble and Licensing Regulations”. This has very concrete implications for the 36 clubs in Germany’s top soccer leagues.

This is how the VBL is to look from the 2023/24 – Season onwards

Participation will be mandatory:

So far, participation has been voluntary for clubs, but in the current – Season 26 of the 36 clubs from the 1st and 2nd Bundesliga already took part. From the – Season after next, i.e. 2023/24, each club will then have to provide its own eSports team, an eSports officer and a venue with the appropriate equipment. Each team will of course play with the digital version of their club.

What will be played?

The game will be played for the title “German Club Champion in eFootball” – by the way, the current final will take place in three days (via VBL). As already now, the tournament will be played in FIFA, respectively in EA Sports FC, as the series will be called from 2023 on. This means that competing products such as Konami’s eFootball or the new game series envisaged by FIFA will be left out. But that could change at any time.

There could be exceptions:

The DFL clarifies that while participation is basically mandatory, there could be exceptions (via Kicker). One of those exceptions might be FC Bayern, which has a cooperation agreement with Konami and is the only German team available in eFootball. The organization is thinking about possible sanctions, but the playing operations of the respective clubs in the German leagues should not be endangered.

At the moment FIFA 22 is played in the VBL:

What are the chances of the VBL?

When we think of eSports, full stadiums and big prize pots might come to mind. But the Virtual Bundesliga still has a long way to go before that happens. Founded in 2012, the competition is currently struggling with low viewership numbers and lags behind both real-world sports and other eSports formats.

New rules should help:

Just like real soccer, eSports has its stars that generate attention. However, the fact that the VBL will soon encompass all clubs in the German leagues could also make better use of the drawing power of clubs that already have existing fan structures. In the future, fans – primarily the youth target group – should follow the games of their club’s eSports team in addition to the Bundesliga games, if possible.

Are you interested in the Virtual Bundesliga? And would you watch your club’s games?