It was an afternoon that all those involved will not soon forget! Berlin's gaming community came together in an exciting event on January 16 at the XPERION Berlinto play out Berlin's official city champion in eFootball in the 030 eCup 2026. After almost four eventful hours, the team from the Hertha BSC eSport Academy was crowned the defending champion in front of an enthusiastic crowd. There was also great joy among the runners-up from Türkiyemspor Berlin, as they qualified as the best amateur team for the Community Qualifier of the DFB-ePokal powered by ERGO. SC Charlottenburg secured ninth place after the newly introduced "Best of the Rest-Round".

"Combining soccer on the pitch with soccer on the console"

The event was opened by moderator Tolga Santino and BFV President Bernd Schultz, who put everyone in the mood for an exciting event and also spoke about the association's understanding of eFootball: "We have been working on the topic since 2018 and our basic idea is to combine soccer on the pitch with soccer on the console and perhaps bring eFootball into the clubhouses in the long term. We are well aware of the occasional criticism, but we want to offer it to those who want to play it" - and that's exactly what happened when 16 teams gathered at XPERION Berlin and were ready to get started on the consoles.

SCC becomes "lucky loser"

On an entertaining first day of group matches with a total of 23 goals, the professional eSports players from Hertha BSC worked up quite a sweat on the big screen of the gaming location at Alexanderplatz against their eventual final opponents Türkiyemspor Berlin, who were the only team that evening with female power on the controller. In the end, however, the title winners were able to claim the first of six victories that evening - a thrilling start!

The new "Best of the Rest-Round", in which all teams eliminated after the group phase battled it out for 9th place, provided an extra dose of excitement for the first time this year. This round finally had the first small final of the evening up its sleeve, and it was to be a real nail-biter: after taking an early 3:0 lead and 3:3 in the meantime, SC Charlottenburg went into the half-time break with a narrow 4:3 lead against BFC Germania. The score was 4:4 after 90 minutes, with SSC ultimately claiming a golden goal to secure a celebrated victory and tickets for Hertha BSC's second league home game against Darmstadt 98.

Hertha ice-cold to the title

The grand finale between Türkiyemspor Berlin, who had beaten SC Gatow by golden goal in the semi-final, and Hertha BSC, who had punished Rotation Prenzlauer Berg's proliferation of chances with a 3:1 victory in their semi-final, brought the evening to a close.

A similar picture presented itself to the captivated audience watching on the big screen of the XPERION in the Hertha final. After the defending champions had taken a 2:0 lead, Türkiyemspor came back to 2:1 and then missed the best scoring chances. The players from the Hertha BSC eSport Academy once again had the upper hand in a thrilling final. In the end, the team secured the title defense with a 4:1 victory and thus the Berlin eFootball City Championship 2026, while final opponent Türkiyemspor in the Community Qualifier of the DFB-ePokal powered by ERGO against the other state champions for participation in the main round of the nationwide tournament. The trophy presentation was conducted by presidential member referee David Dahlhaus and concluded a more than successful evening that will certainly be repeated in 2027.

The Berlin Football Association would like to thank all the teams, full-time and honorary supporters, presenter Tolga Santino, Hertha BSC Ticketing and XPERION Berlin for their cooperation.

To the match schedule with all results

Hertha BSC won this year's edition of the 030 eCup, which was held at XPERION Berlin on January 17. In the final, the Bundesliga's first eSports academy beat SG Rotation Prenzlauer Berg 2:0. Since Hertha BSC, as a member of the Virtual Bundesliga, has already qualified directly for the main round of the DFB ePokal, the final opponent from Prenzlauer Berg automatically advances to the next round and thus makes its debut on the big stage.

However, it was not a walk in the park for the Hertha representatives Noah Klitzing (Nokzyy23), Len-Luca Seidel (BSC_Lenni) and Nick Mittelstädt (BSC_Nick). The quarter-finals in particular presented the Herthans with major challenges: They were chasing a deficit until the 87th minute, but were able to draw it after a handsome equalizer and win the game in extra time. Their opponents in the final, SG Rotation Prenzlauer Berg, also won a close 1:0 victory over VSG Rahnsdorf in a hard-fought semi-final.

Before this could happen, 16 teams, divided into four groups, fought exciting duels in the preliminary round at Xperion on Friday afternoon. Beforehand, the numerous spectators and teams were welcomed by Malte Schruth, BFV President for Innovation, Club and Association Development and Qualification. In his opening speech, Schruth reaffirmed eFootball's meeting-creating character and explained why the BFV supports eFootball. "We deliberately talk about eFootball because it is important to us that we focus on soccer. We also see an inclusive character, so old, young, people with and without disabilities - everyone can come together at the game, play against each other or with each other and meet new people," said Schruth.

Hertha BSC's victory means that the successor to Delay Sports as Berlin eFootball champion has been decided. The remaining semi-finalists were rewarded with tickets for Hertha BSC's Bundesliga home game against FC Nuremberg in February for reaching the last four.

All tournament results at a glance

Delay Sports Berlin has won the first edition of the 030 eCup and thus secured the official Berlin city championship in eFootball. In the final, the team, which featured four players from the professional eSports team FOKUS, defeated Hertha BSC's eSports Academy 2:0 in two matches. In addition to winning the title, Delay Sports can also look forward to qualifying for the main round of the DFB ePokal powered by ERGO, which will be held from March 2023. As a member of the Virtual Bundesliga, finalists Hertha BSC will also compete in the nationwide cup competition despite the defeat.

Mohammed Harkous (gamertag: MoAuba), team captain of Delay Sports and FIFA World Champion 2019, says: "When we take part in a tournament, we always have the ambition to win. Berlin champions - that sounds cool. I hope that many more cities in Germany will follow the example of the Berlin Football Association and organize their own city championships. We now want to do better in the DFB ePokal than last year, when we came third."

Starting at 4 p.m., a total of nine teams played for the Berlin championship title in the soccer simulation FIFA 23 on the PlayStation 5 at Xperion, Berlin's new gaming and eSports location in the Saturn store on Alexanderplatz. The tournament featured several top-class professional eSports players: In addition to world champion Mohammed Harkous, FOKUS members Dylan Neuhausen (gamertag: DullenMIKE, current German FIFA champion), Koray Kücükgünar (KKoray) and Matthias Hietsch (Stylo) were active on the controllers for Delay Sports. The Hertha BSC team was led by captain Cihan Yasarlar (Cihan), who has been a professional eSports player since 2015 and won the championship title in the Virtual Bundesliga in 2017. The 030 eCup was played in teams of two to five players, one of whom had to be a member of a Berlin soccer club.

"The first edition of the 030 eCup offered the spectators a top-class field of participants and many exciting matches," summarized BFV President Bernd Schultz. "The tournament has once again shown that eFootball inspires many, especially young members of Berlin's soccer clubs. Such events also offer us as an association the opportunity to address target groups that we would otherwise not reach in this form. This potential to bring young people interested in gaming to organized club soccer via eFootball must be exploited."

The 030 eCup is the successor competition to the state association trophy, which will be played annually until 2022. As Berlin eFootball champion, Delay Sports follows Viktoria Berlin, who won the title in 2022.