FC Bayern eSports begin the new Virtual Bundesliga Club Championship by WOW on 16 October. A new competition format and prize pool of €87,500 promises exciting matches and top-level gaming for the 2025/26 season, as FC Bayern joins the VBL with partner EA SPORTS FC.
New format for more excitement
The VBL will be played for the first time using only 1v1 mode. Each match-up consists of two individual players, whose goals are added to the overall score. The 35 clubs also no longer compete in separate divisions but in five qualifying tournaments, called showdowns. These consist of an online preliminary round played on a Thursday and a Tuesday. The best 16 teams from these preliminary rounds qualify for the offline knockout phase played the following weekend. These showdowns will be played in different cities across Germany from October to February in Leipzig, Frankfurt, Cologne, Berlin and Stuttgart. The match-ups are drawn again for each online preliminary round, meaning there is no fixed fixture list at the start of the season.
The best teams earn points for the overall league table, which will determine the participants in the play-offs and the Club Championship Finals in Hamburg on 7/8 March 2026. The top eight clubs qualify automatically for the finals, while places nine to 24 have to earn their spot via the play-offs. Teams ranked 25-35 are eliminated for the season. The new structure offers the chance to compete against the best teams in Germany and excite fans.
What elements remain?
The VBL will still be played in EA SPORTS FC 26’s Ultimate Team mode. The option of each club being able to nominate two players from their own current squad as so-called ‘VBL Power Items’ has proved successful. In EA SPORTS FC 26, their digital images receive the highest possible overall playing strength of 99 in the VBL Club Championship by WOW, thus ensuring that the unique player personalities of each club are in the foreground on the virtual playing field. For FC Bayern eSports, those players are Harry Kane and Michael Olise.
Meet our players
FC Bayern eSports are continuing with Furkan ‘FurkyPlayz’ Kayacik and Koray ‘Kkoray_’ Kücükgünar for the new season. Kayacik joined Bayern from Wehen Wiesbaden in September 2024 and came first in the southeast division with his Munich teammates in his fourth VBL season. As well as his appearances in professional eSports, he’s also known as a content creator for EA SPORTS FC.
Kücükgünar reached the semi-finals of the 2025 VBL Grand Final for Bayern, only losing on penalties to eventual champion Levy Finn Rieck. Prior to joining Bayern, he previously represented St. Pauli and Bochum.
Opener against Dortmund
Bayern’s opening fixtures from 18:00 CEST on 16 October include Borussia Dortmund, Dynamo Dresden, Paderborn and Werder Bremen, before facing Holstein Kiel and Bochum on 21 October. Every Bayern match will be available to watch live on the club’s Twitch channel.
