The play-offs of the Virtual Bundesliga (VBL) Club Championship by bevestor are scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, with eight teams battling for four tickets to the final.
SV Werder Bremen would have preferred to spare themselves the duel in the upcoming play-offs, after all the direct jump into the final of the VBL Club Championship was within reach for the two-time German club champions.
On the last day of the main round, Michael ‘MegaBit’ Bittner’s team was surprisingly ousted from the top duo of the North-West Division, but now they want to make up for it against 1. FC Nürnberg.
The two teams will meet on Tuesday evening at 8 pm. Nuremberg would certainly have wished for an easier opponent. But the Franconians also fell on the last matchday and finished the main round in the South-East Division in sixth place.
St. Pauli as a scare for the top teams
The play-offs will open on Tuesday at 6 pm with the clash between FC St. Pauli and FC Augsburg. St. Pauli had to fight for their place in the play-offs until the very end the previous week, but a 7-1 win over Bochum ensured fourth place.
Before that, the Hanseatic League team had proved to be an unpleasant opponent for top teams several times during the second half of the season, including victories against Hamburg (6:3), Cologne (9:0), Hanover (6:3) and Bremen (7:1).
Augsburg, on the other hand, made a steep climb after a moderate start to the season, which even led Yannic ‘Yannic0109’ Bederke & Co. to second place for a while. It was only in the last few weeks that the team ran out of steam, with only one win from the most recent seven duels.
Hoffenheim with tailwind against Cologne
In contrast, TSG Hoffenheim have been in strong form for weeks now, losing only one of their last 13 encounters and therefore having legitimate hopes of reaching the final. On Wednesday, Lukas ‘Lukas_1004’ Seiler and Fabrice ‘whiteezz05’ Weiß will face 1. FC Köln from 6 pm.
And the dress rehearsal was promising: With victories against Ingolstadt (6:3) and Nuremberg (9:0), TSG once again underlined their outstanding form in the previous week. Cologne, on the other hand, had a lurching course in the second half of the season, finishing between ninth and third place, but the 6:3 win against Hamburg finally secured them a place in the play-offs.
Defending champions in the role of favourites
The fourth and last ticket to the final will be decided between defending champions 1. FC Heidenheim 1846 and Hannover 96 on Wednesday at 8 pm – and the signs could hardly be clearer.
While defending champions Heidenheim improved from week to week and climbed to third place in the South-East Division during the second half of the season, the form curve of the Lower Saxons took the complete opposite direction.
The team around Riad ‘H96_Riad’ Fazlija, who was voted “top performer of the first half of the season” by the community, dominated the first half of the season, but then experienced a dramatic decline, at the end of which they even had to fear for their play-off participation. Hanover have only won one of their last twelve matches.
The first and second-placed teams from the two divisions are already in the final: FC Ingolstadt 04 and RB Leipzig from the South-East Division and Hansa Rostock and Hamburger SV from the North-West Division.
