Three clubs made it to the final day of the Qualifiers as part of the DFB-ePokal at the weekend, while 23 teams had to drop out.
26 teams from the Virtual Bundesliga (VBL) Club Championship by bevestor, the 3rd League and the Women’s Bundesliga played on Saturday evening for just three tickets to the Qualifier final day. This represents the conclusion of the preliminary round in the 2021/22 season of the DFB-ePokal powered by ERGO – and is now complete.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen, 1. FC Kaiserslautern (Rote Teufel Esport) and FC St. Pauli keep the title dream alive, big names like Hertha BSC, TSG Hoffenheim or VfL Wolfsburg have to say goodbye. The Werkself’s eSports department also secured the day’s victory in the final against FCK.
Bayer beat Lautern smoothly in the final
Marc ‘Marc_ldw23’ Landwehr beat ‘Boyaaaaaah09’ 4:2, Paul ‘B04_Paul’ Degner held his own against Michael ‘Deos’ Haan 3:2 – an even 6:0 in the final. Leverkusen had previously knocked out SSV Jahn Regensburg (6:3), Eintracht Frankfurt (6:0), MSV Duisburg (6:3) and VfL Wolfsburg (6:3) in succession.
Rote Teufel Esport, on the other hand, had entered the final with victories over PENTA and TSV 1860 München respectively (6:3), Halleschen FC (6:3), FC Schalke 04 (6:0) and FC St. Pauli (6:0). The eKiez lost their semi-final to Kaiserslautern, but secured third place against Wolfsburg (6:3) and thus progressed.
Final day of Qualifiers concludes preliminary round
The DFB-ePokal now rests for a Monday before the Qualifier Final Day concludes the preliminary round on 5 and 6 March. Out of 40 teams qualified via the Regional Qualifiers, State Association Trophies and Club Qualifier, half will be eliminated in the knockout stage. The 20 winning teams will face the top 12 of the VBL Club Championship in the main round.
On 31 March and 1 April, eight finalists will be determined from these 32 main round participants, who will play out the DFB-ePokal winner 2022 on 2 and 3 April – and thus the successor to Celtic Worms FC. With their triumph in the Club Qualifier, Leverkusen have certainly catapulted themselves into the extended circle of favourites.