16 players made it through from the VBL Open to the play-offs in November – including Dylan ‘DullenMIKE’ Neuhausen. The national competition is his last chance to take part in FC 24.
About two months ago, ‘DullenMIKE’ was still sarcastic about his failure in the FC Pro Regional Qualifier. The “complete focus” must now be “on the next tournament” – which, according to him, was “the first qualifier in FC 25”. The current season, on the other hand, was “already over in October”. Neuhausen was referring to his missed chance at the FC Pro Open and, via this, the FC Pro World Championship 2024. However, he was not quite right.
The FC Pro path to the World Championship had become a dead end for him. But there is a second option: via the national league competition. This is because the Virtual Bundesliga awards two direct World Cup tickets in FC 24 – for both finalists of the VBL Grand Final. ‘DullenMIKE’ has now come a significant step closer to this. The eSports player from FOKUS was one of the first players to qualify for the play-offs via the VBL Open back in November.
World Championship ticket to be won via participation in the final
Neuhausen therefore remains in the running for the individual eFootball championship, which he already won in 2022. The year before, he was also in the final, which would be enough for a place in the World Cup. ‘DullenMIKE’ knows how to make a VBL Grand Final a success. Should the German national team player qualify for the final via the play-offs, he would also be one of the favorites. And the chance to save his FC Pro season after all.
The other 15 play-off qualifiers from the VBL Open in November are pursuing the same dream. These include players such as Max ‘Kuchinter’ Winter and Simon ‘harter_schuss22’ Zügel, who have already played in the VBL Club Championship in the past. As usual, the field is complemented by ambitious amateurs and young talents from large clubs or organizations such as Djamal ‘Djamal_20x’ Golla from the SV Werder Bremen academy.
A strong performance in the VBL Grand Final will not only earn two direct tickets to the Individual World Championship in FC 24. The two finalists also qualify for the eChampions League – as do the losing semi-finalists.
