2020–21 DFB-Pokal

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DFB-Pokal 2020–21
Region	Germany
Dates	11 September 2020 – 13 May 2021
Number of teams	64
Defending champions	Bayern Munich
Champions	Borussia Dortmund (5th title)
Runner-up	RB Leipzig
Total matches played	63
Total goals scored	230
Top goal scorer	Jadon Sancho (6 goals)
← 2019–20	2021–22 →

The 2020–21 DFB-Pokal was the 78th season of the annual German football cup competition. Sixty-four teams participated in the competition, including all teams from the previous year's Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga. The competition begin on 14 August 2020 with the first of six rounds and will end on 22 May 2021 with the final at the Olympiastadion in Berlin, a nominally neutral venue, which has hosted the final since 1985. The DFB-Pokal is considered the second-most important club title in German football after the Bundesliga championship. The DFB-Pokal is run by the German Football Association (DFB).

The defending champions are Bundesliga side Bayern Munich, after they defeated Bayer Leverkusen 4–2 in the previous final.

The winner of the DFB-Pokal earns automatic qualification for the group stage of the 2021–22 edition of the UEFA Europa League. If they have already qualified for the UEFA Champions League through position in the Bundesliga, then the spot will go to the team in sixth, and the league's second qualifying round spot will go to the team in seventh. The winner also will host the 2021 edition of the DFL-Supercup at the start of the next season, and will face the champion of the 2020–21 Bundesliga.

Participating clubs

The following teams qualified for the competition:

Bundesliga the 18 clubs of the 2019–20 season	2. Bundesliga the 18 clubs of the 2019–20 season	3. Liga the top 4 clubs of the 2019–20 season
FC Augsburg Hertha BSC Union Berlin Werder Bremen Borussia Dortmund Fortuna Düsseldorf Eintracht Frankfurt SC Freiburg 1899 Hoffenheim 1. FC Köln RB Leipzig Bayer Leverkusen Mainz 05 Borussia Mönchengladbach Bayern Munich SC Paderborn Schalke 04 VfL Wolfsburg	Erzgebirge Aue Arminia Bielefeld VfL Bochum Darmstadt 98 Dynamo Dresden Greuther Fürth Hamburger SV Hannover 96 1. FC Heidenheim Karlsruher SC Holstein Kiel 1. FC Nürnberg VfL Osnabrück Jahn Regensburg SV Sandhausen FC St. Pauli VfB Stuttgart Wehen Wiesbaden	Würzburger Kickers Eintracht Braunschweig FC Ingolstadt MSV Duisburg
Representatives of the regional associations 24 representatives of 21 regional associations of the DFB, qualify (in general) through the 2019–20 Verbandspokal
Baden Waldhof Mannheim Bavaria 1860 Munich (CW) 1. FC Schweinfurt (RB) Berlin VSG Altglienicke Brandenburg Union Fürstenwalde Bremen FC Oberneuland Hamburg Eintracht Norderstedt Hesse TSV Steinbach Haiger	Lower Rhine Rot-Weiss Essen Lower Saxony TSV Havelse (3L/RL) Eintracht Celle (Am.) Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Hansa Rostock Middle Rhine 1. FC Düren Rhineland FV Engers Saarland SV Elversberg Saxony Chemnitzer FC	Saxony-Anhalt 1. FC Magdeburg Schleswig-Holstein SV Todesfelde South Baden 1. FC Rielasingen-Arlen Southwest 1. FC Kaiserslautern Thuringia Carl Zeiss Jena Westphalia RSV Meinerzhagen (CW) SC Wiedenbrück (PO) Württemberg SSV Ulm

Format

Participation

The DFB-Pokal begins with a round of 64 teams. The 36 teams of the Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga, along with the top 4 finishers of the 3. Liga are automatically qualified for the tournament. Of the remaining slots, 21 are given to the cup winners of the regional football associations, the Verbandspokal. The 3 remaining slots are given to the three regional associations with the most men's teams, which currently is Bavaria, Lower Saxony, and Westphalia. The best-placed amateur team of the Regionalliga Bayern is given the Spot for Bavaria. For Lower Saxony, the Lower Saxony Cup is split into two paths: one for 3. Liga and Regionalliga Nord teams, and the other for amateur teams. The winners of each path qualify. For Westphalia, the winner of a play-off between the best-placed team of the Regionalliga West and Oberliga Westfalen also qualify. As every team is entitled to participate in local tournaments which qualify for the association cups, every team can in principle compete in the DFB-Pokal. Reserve teams and combined football sections are not permitted to enter, along with no two teams of the same association or corporation.

Draw

The draws for the different rounds are conducted as following:

For the first round, the participating teams will be split into two pots of 32 teams each. The first pot contains all teams which have qualified through their regional cup competitions, the best four teams of the 3. Liga, and the bottom four teams of the 2. Bundesliga. Every team from this pot will be drawn to a team from the second pot, which contains all remaining professional teams (all the teams of the Bundesliga and the remaining fourteen 2. Bundesliga teams). The teams from the first pot will be set as the home team in the process.

The two-pot scenario will also be applied for the second round, with the remaining 3. Liga and/or amateur team(s) in the first pot and the remaining Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga teams in the other pot. Once again, the 3. Liga and/or amateur team(s) will serve as hosts. This time the pots do not have to be of equal size though, depending on the results of the first round. Theoretically, it is even possible that there may be only one pot, if all of the teams from one of the pots from the first round beat all the others in the second pot. Once one pot is empty, the remaining pairings will be drawn from the other pot with the first-drawn team for a match serving as hosts.

For the remaining rounds, the draw will be conducted from just one pot. Any remaining 3. Liga and/or amateur team(s) will be the home team if drawn against a professional team. In every other case, the first-drawn team will serve as hosts.

Match rules

Teams meet in one game per round. Matches take place for 90 minutes, with two halves of 45 minutes. If still tied after regulation, 30 minutes of extra time will be played, consisting of two periods of 15 minutes. If the score is still level after this, the match will be decided by a penalty shoot-out. A coin toss will decide who takes the first penalty. A total of seven players are allowed to be listed on the substitute bench, with up to three substitutions being allowed during regulation. After approval by the IFAB in 2016, the use of a fourth substitute is allowed in extra time as part of a pilot project. From the quarter-finals onward, a video assistant referee will be appointed for all DFB-Pokal matches. Though technically possible, VAR will not be used for home matches of Bundesliga clubs prior to the quarter-finals in order to provide a uniform approach to all matches.

Suspensions

If a player receives five yellow cards in the competition, he will then be suspended from the next cup match. Similarly, receiving a second yellow card suspends a player from the next cup match. If a player receives a direct red card, they will be suspended a minimum of one match, but the German Football Association reserves the right to increase the suspension.

Champion qualification

The winner of the DFB-Pokal earns automatic qualification for the group stage of next year's edition of the UEFA Europa League. If they have already qualified for the UEFA Champions League through position in the Bundesliga, then the spot will go to the team in sixth, and the league's second qualifying round spot will go to the team in seventh. The winner also will host the DFL-Supercup at the start of the next season, and will face the champion of the previous year's Bundesliga, unless the same team wins the Bundesliga and the DFB-Pokal, completing a double. In that case, the runner up of the Bundesliga will take the spot and host instead.

Schedule

All draws will generally be held at the German Football Museum in Dortmund, on a Sunday evening at 18:00 after each round (unless noted otherwise). The draws will be televised on ARD's Sportschau, broadcast on Das Erste. From the quarter-finals onwards, the draw for the DFB-Pokal Frauen will also take place at the same time.

The rounds of the 2020–21 competition are scheduled as follows:

Round	Draw date	Matches
First round	June 2020	14–17 August 2020
Second round	23 August 2020	27–28 October 2020
Round of 16	1 November 2020	2–3 February 2021
Quarter-finals	7 February 2021	2–3 March 2021
Semi-finals	7 March 2021	1–2 May 2021
Final		22 May 2021 at Olympiastadion, Berlin

Matches

A total of sixty-three matches will take place, starting with the first round on 14 August 2020 and culminating with the final on 22 May 2021 at the Olympiastadion in Berlin.

Times up to 25 October 2020 and from 28 March 2021 are CEST (UTC+2). Times from 26 October 2020 to 27 March 2021 are CET (UTC+1).

First round

The draw for the first round was held on 26 July 2020 at 18:30, with Heike Ullrich drawing the matches. As the winners of the Verbandspokal were not yet known, placeholders were used in the draw. Since SV Rödinghausen could still qualify as both the Westphalian Cup winner and the play-off winner at the time of the draw, the assignment of the two Westphalian teams required an additional draw after both competitions were completed. The second draw, which included RSV Meinerzhagen and SC Wiedenbrück, took place at the DFB headquarters in Frankfurt on 26 August 2020, 10:45, with Renate Lingor drawing the matches. The thirty-two matches will take place from 11 to 14 September and 15 October 2020.

11 September 2020 (2020-09-11)	TSV Havelse	v	Mainz 05	Mainz
20:45		Report		Stadium: Opel Arena

11 September 2020 (2020-09-11)	Eintracht Braunschweig	v	Hertha BSC	Braunschweig
20:45		Report		Stadium: Eintracht-Stadion

12 September 2020 (2020-09-12)	FV Engers	v	VfL Bochum	Bochum
15:30		Report		Stadium: Vonovia Ruhrstadion

12 September 2020 (2020-09-12)	Union Fürstenwalde	v	VfL Wolfsburg	Wolfsburg
15:30		Report		Stadium: AOK-Stadion

12 September 2020 (2020-09-12)	FC Oberneuland	v	Borussia Mönchengladbach	Mönchengladbach
15:30		Report		Stadium: Borussia-Park

12 September 2020 (2020-09-12)	RSV Meinerzhagen	v	Greuther Fürth	Fürth
15:30		Report		Stadium: Sportpark Ronhof Thomas Sommer

12 September 2020 (2020-09-12)	VSG Altglienicke	v	1. FC Köln	Cologne
15:30		Report		Stadium: RheinEnergieStadion

12 September 2020 (2020-09-12)	1. FC Nürnberg	v	RB Leipzig	Nuremberg
15:30		Report		Stadium: Max-Morlock-Stadion

12 September 2020 (2020-09-12)	SV Todesfelde	v	VfL Osnabrück	Todesfelde
15:30		Report		Stadium: Joda Sportpark

12 September 2020 (2020-09-12)	1860 Munich	v	Eintracht Frankfurt	Munich
15:30		Report		Stadium: Städtisches Stadion an der Grünwalder Straße

12 September 2020 (2020-09-12)	Eintracht Celle	v	FC Augsburg	Augsburg
15:30		Report		Stadium: WWK Arena

12 September 2020 (2020-09-12)	SSV Ulm	v	Erzgebirge Aue	Ulm
18:30		Report		Stadium: Donaustadion

12 September 2020 (2020-09-12)	FC Ingolstadt	v	Fortuna Düsseldorf	Ingolstadt
18:30		Report		Stadium: Audi Sportpark

12 September 2020 (2020-09-12)	Karlsruher SC	v	Union Berlin	Karlsruhe
18:30		Report		Stadium: Wildparkstadion

12 September 2020 (2020-09-12)	Carl Zeiss Jena	v	Werder Bremen	Jena
20:45		Report		Stadium: Ernst-Abbe-Sportfeld

13 September 2020 (2020-09-13)	TSV Steinbach Haiger	v	SV Sandhausen	Haiger
15:30		Report		Stadium: Sibre-Sportzentrum Haarwasen

13 September 2020 (2020-09-13)	SV Elversberg	v	FC St. Pauli	Spiesen-Elversberg
15:30		Report		Stadium: Ursapharm-Arena an der Kaiserlinde

13 September 2020 (2020-09-13)	Eintracht Norderstedt	v	Bayer Leverkusen	Leverkusen
15:30		Report		Stadium: BayArena

13 September 2020 (2020-09-13)	1. FC Schweinfurt	v	Schalke 04	Gelsenkirchen
15:30		Report		Stadium: Veltins-Arena

13 September 2020 (2020-09-13)	SC Wiedenbrück	v	SC Paderborn	Gütersloh
15:30		Report		Stadium: Heidewald Stadion

13 September 2020 (2020-09-13)	1. FC Kaiserslautern	v	Jahn Regensburg	Kaiserslautern
15:30		Report		Stadium: Fritz-Walter-Stadion

13 September 2020 (2020-09-13)	Chemnitzer FC	v	1899 Hoffenheim	Chemnitz
15:30		Report		Stadium: Stadion an der Gellertstraße

13 September 2020 (2020-09-13)	1. FC Rielasingen-Arlen	v	Holstein Kiel	Kiel
15:30		Report		Stadium: Holstein-Stadion

13 September 2020 (2020-09-13)	Hansa Rostock	v	VfB Stuttgart	Rostock
15:30		https://www.dfb.de/dfb-pokal/spieltag/?spieledb_path=%2Fmatches%2F2311423 Report]		Stadium: Ostseestadion

13 September 2020 (2020-09-13)	Waldhof Mannheim	v	SC Freiburg	Mannheim
18:30		Report		Stadium: Carl-Benz-Stadion

13 September 2020 (2020-09-13)	1. FC Magdeburg	v	Darmstadt 98	Magdeburg
18:30		Report		Stadium: MDCC-Arena

13 September 2020 (2020-09-13)	Wehen Wiesbaden	v	1. FC Heidenheim	Wiesbaden
18:30		Report		Stadium: Brita-Arena

13 September 2020 (2020-09-13)	Dynamo Dresden	v	Hamburger SV	Dresden
18:30		Report		Stadium: Rudolf-Harbig-Stadion

14 September 2020 (2020-09-14)	Würzburger Kickers	v	Hannover 96	Würzburg
18:30		Report		Stadium: Flyeralarm Arena

14 September 2020 (2020-09-14)	Rot-Weiss Essen	v	Arminia Bielefeld	Essen
18:30		Report		Stadium: Stadion Essen

14 September 2020 (2020-09-14)	MSV Duisburg	v	Borussia Dortmund	Duisburg
20:45		Report		Stadium: Schauinsland-Reisen-Arena

15 October 2020 (2020-10-15)	1. FC Düren	v	Bayern Munich	Munich
20:45		Report		Stadium: Allianz Arena

Second round

The draw for the second round will be held on 20 September 2020 at 18:00. The sixteen matches will take place from 22 to 23 December 2020.

Round of 16

The draw for the round of 16 will be held on 1 November 2020 at 18:00. The eight matches will take place from 2 to 3 February 2021.

Quarter-finals

The draw for the quarter-finals will be held on 7 February 2021 at 18:00. The four matches will take place from 2 to 3 March 2021.

Semi-finals

The draw for the semi-finals was held on 7 March 2021 at 18:30, with Bärbel Wohlleben drawing the matches. The two matches took place on 30 April and 1 May 2021.

30 April 2021 (2021-04-30) 20:30	Werder Bremen	1–2 (a.e.t.)	RB Leipzig	Weser-Stadion, Bremen Attendance: 0 Referee: Manuel Gräfe
	Bittencourt  105+1'	Report	Hwang  93' Forsberg  120+1'

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1 May 2021 (2021-05-01) 20:30	Borussia Dortmund	5–0	Holstein Kiel	Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund Attendance: 0 Referee: Christian Dingert
	Reyna  16', 22' Reus  26' Hazard  32' Bellingham  41'	Report

Final

Main article:2021 DFB-Pokal Final

The final took place on 13 May 2021 at the Olympiastadion in Berlin.

13 May 2021 (2021-05-13) 20:45 CEST	RB Leipzig	1–4	Borussia Dortmund	Olympiastadion, Berlin Attendance: 0 Referee: Felix Brych (Munich)
	Olmo  71'	Report	Sancho  5', 45+1' Haaland  28', 87'

External links

• Official website (German)
• DFB-Pokal on kicker.de (German)