RB Leipzig has been dethroned, the Virtual Bundesliga has a new club champion in SC Paderborn. A thoroughly surprising triumph that tasted all the sweeter for the protagonists thanks to a successful revenge
As the first day of competition in the final event of the Virtual Bundesliga Club Championship (VBLCC) drew to a close on Saturday evening, the Paderborn camp was anything but satisfied. Three games, four points, fourth place was the sobering interim result for the co-favorites. Although the knockout phase had already been secured at this point, that was as good as it got
After a weak start: SCP sets “everything to zero “
“We didn’t play well on Saturday,” confirmed Jonas Wirth, who described the end of the day after the disappointing start as follows: “Jamie, Daniel and I had another intensive discussion between the three of us after our games about what we need to do better to get very far or even win the thing.” The result of the discussion with teammate Jamie Bartel and coach Daniel Elit? “Sunday is a completely different day. Everything will be set to zero. “
After narrowly losing to Leverkusen and the “sleepless Marc” Landwehr in the final, but no longer decisive, game, the East Westphalians’ approach should be noticeable and pay off from the quarter-finals onwards. The SCP won both the first knockout round and the preliminary round in quick succession – which left ‘Jonny’ with bad memories during the final against RB Leipzig.
“We only had speed runs in the DFB ePokal last year until the final against Leipzig. I had flashbacks to that,” he alluded to the bitter defeat in the 2023 final, “especially because it went to the third match again. But this time with a happy ending for us.” An outcome that meant “an awful lot” to Wirth, “because I didn’t want to lose another final”.
Wirth’s colleague ‘Chaser’ had averted another defeat in the final. After ‘Jonny’ had missed the first match point against Anders Vejrgang, his teammate kept the upper hand in the third and deciding duel with Leipzig’s Umut Gültekin. A result that Bartel himself commented on remarkably afterwards. “I played simply and won completely undeservedly,” he summarized, before adding a not insignificant follow-up: “But I won!”
A title that was special for Bartel on two emotional levels. On the one hand, he had clashed with Leipzig’s always provocative Anders Vejrgang in the victorious 2vs2 and was held back by Wirth when he cheered loudly in the Dane’s direction: “Anders has a special way about him. Then you have to expect something like that to come back. “
‘Chaser’ repays the trust
On the other hand, ‘Chaser’ repaid the trust he had received from his club with the trophy. “It means a lot to me because I had a very weak last year,” said Bartel. It was even unclear whether the East Westphalians would offer him a contract. But: “They decided in my favor after all, even though there were a lot of arguments against it. I just wanted to prove that it was worth it.” The former Bochum player’s inner life looked accordingly during the game against Gültekin: “When I played against Umut, all the emotions came up. The whole of last season went through my head in fast-forward.”
A season whose end felt almost unreal for ‘Chaser’. “It was like those crazy clips on social media. You think to yourself, ‘This only happens one in a million times’,” he described his disbelief, before concluding, “We can say we won it. We’re not second – we won it. “
