DFB-Pokal

DFB-Pokal
Founded	1935
Region	Germany
Number of teams	64
Tournament information
Current champions	RB Leipzig (2nd title)
Most successful team(s)	Bayern Munich (20 titles)
Current
Website	Official website

The DFB-Pokal (IPA) or DFB Cup is a German knockout football cup competition held annually. Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considered the second-most important club title in German football after the Bundesliga championship. The DFB-Pokal is run by the Deutscher Fußball-Bund (English: German Football Association). The competition runs from August until June. The winner qualifies for the DFL-Supercup and the UEFA Europa League unless the winner already qualifies for the UEFA Champions League in the Bundesliga.

The competition was founded in 1935, then called Tschammer-Pokal. The first titleholder were 1. FC Nuremberg. In 1937 Schalke were the first team to win the double. The Tschammer-Pokal was suspended in 1945 due to World War II and disbanded following the demise of Nazi Germany. In 1952–53, the cup was reinstated as the DFB-Pokal, named after the Deutscher Fußball-Bund and was won by Rot-Weiss Essen. Bayern Munich have won the most titles, with 20 wins and being the most recent winner.

Format

The competition format has varied considerably since the inception of the Tschammer-Pokal in 1935.

Participation

The DFB-Pokal begins with a round of 64 teams. The 36 teams of the Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga, along with the top four 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 three remaining slots are given to the three regional associations with the most men's teams. They may assign the slot as they see fit but usually give it to the runner up in the association cup. 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 like Borussia Dortmund II are not permitted to enter.

Seeding

The pairings for the DFB Cup are not entirely random as the teams are split into two pots of 32 teams each. One pot contains all the amateur teams including teams from the 3. Liga and the teams just being promoted to the 2. Bundesliga. The other pot contains the teams from the Bundesliga and the teams of the 2. Bundesliga who have not just been promoted. Therefore, in the first round of the cup each professional team plays an amateur team. Since 1982, the amateur generally plays at home when facing a professional team.

For the second round the teams are again divided into two pots according to the same principles. This time the pots don't have to be of equal size though, depending on the results of the first round. Amateur teams get paired with professional teams until one pot is empty. The remaining teams are then drawn from the nonempty pot with the team first drawn playing at home.

For the remaining rounds other than the final the teams are drawn from one pot. Since 1985 the final has been held in the Olympic Stadium in Berlin every year.

Match rules

Extra time will be played if the scores are level after 90 minutes with a penalty shootout following if needed.

History

Historically the number of participants in the main tournament has varied between four from 1956 until 1960 and 128 from 1973 through 1982 resulting in tournaments of two to seven rounds. Since the inception of the Bundesliga in 1963 all clubs from the Bundesliga are automatically qualified for the DFB-Pokal as are all clubs from the 2. Bundesliga since its inception in 1974. Reserve sides for most of the time were allowed to participate in the DFB-Pokal but have been excluded since 2008.

The final has been held at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin every season since 1985. Before 1985, the host of the final was determined on short notice. In the decision, the German Football Association took into consideration the ease with which supporters of both finalists could reach the site.

Originally the cup games were held over two times 45 minutes with two times 15 minutes extra time in case of a draw. If the score was still level after 120 minutes the game was replayed with the home field right reversed. In the 1939 Tschammer-Pokal the semi-final between SV Waldhof Mannheim and Wacker Wien was a draw three times before the game was decided by lot. The German Football Association decided to hold a penalty shootout if the replay was another draw after a similar situation arose in the 1970 cup, when the match between Alemannia Aachen and SV Werder Bremen had to be decided by lot after two draws.

In 1971–72 and 1972–73 the matches were held over two legs. The second leg was extended by two times 15 minutes if the aggregate was a draw after both legs. In case the extension brought no decision a penalty shootout was held.

When in 1977 the final 1. FC Köln vs. Hertha BSC had to be replayed this led to great logistic difficulties. In the aftermath the DFB decided not to let cup finals to be replayed in the future instead holding a penalty shootout after extra time. Eventually this change was extended to all cup games in 1991.

International Qualification

Since 1960, the winner of the DFB-Pokal qualified for the European Cup Winners Cup. If the Cup winner qualified for the European Club Champions Cup, the losing finalist moved into the European Cup Winners Cup.

After the season 1998–99, the winner of the DFB-Pokal moved into next season's UEFA Europa League (called the UEFA Cup until 2009). If the winner qualifies through the Bundesliga for the Champions League, the losing finalist gets the spot. If both finalists qualify for the Champions League, the best placed team of the Bundesliga which is not already qualified for at least the Europa League gets the spot.

Tschammerpokal

The first German cup was held in 1935. It was then called von Tschammer und Osten Pokal, or Tschammerpokal for short, named after Reichssportführer (Sports Chief of the Reich) Hans von Tschammer und Osten. The first final was contested between the two most successful clubs of that era, the 1. FC Nuremberg and Schalke 04, with Nuremberg winning 2 – 0. After the last Tschammerpokal was held in 1943 the cup was not held for almost 10 years, being re-introduced by the German Football Association in 1952 under its current name DFB-Pokal. In 1965, the original trophy, Goldfasanen-Pokal, was substituted by the trophy which is still awarded today, because the original reminded DFB President Peco Bauwens of the Nazi era.

Giant killing

Originally, the DFB-Pokal was a competition open to clubs from the top divisions of German football only. This continued after the establishment of the Bundesliga in 1963. Semi-professional and amateur clubs could only enter the competition from 1974 onwards, when it was enlarged. Up until 2008, only the top two divisions of German football, the Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga, were fully professional but from 2008, with the establishment of the 3. Liga, the third tier also became fully professional.

From the start, the new match ups Bundesliga versus amateurs, most usually third division clubs, became a source of surprises. Often titled the "mother of all cup sensations" (Die Mutter aller Pokalsensationen), was Hamburger SV's second round loss to VfB Eppingen in 1974, the first instance of an amateur side knocking out a Bundesliga club. It took until 1990 for a fourth division side to achieve the same, when SpVgg Fürth took Borussia Dortmund out of the competition. Further milestones were the reserve side of Hertha BSC, Hertha BSC II, reaching the cup final in 1993, a first for a third division club and a reserve team. In 1997 Eintracht Trier proved too strong for both the UEFA Cup and Champions League winners, knocking FC Schalke 04 and Borussia Dortmund out of the competition. In 2000, the 1. FC Magdeburg became the first fourth division side to eliminate two Bundesliga clubs in one season.

Surprise results in the cup attract a strong media covarage in Germany and, at times, abroad. When TSV Vestenbergsgreuth took out FC Bayern Munich in 1994, who were coached by Giovanni Trapattoni at the time, La Gazzetta dello Sport reported on its front page "Club di dilettanti elimina Trapattoni" (Amateur club eliminate Trapattoni).

Records

Having won 20 titles, Bayern Munich has been the most successful team in the cup since they won their fourth title in 1969. Fortuna Düsseldorf established a record for consecutive German Cup match victories (18 straight victories between 1978 and 1981, taking the trophy in 1979 and 1980). Schalke 04 holds the record for the biggest win in a DFB-Pokal final. They won 5–0 against Kaiserslautern in 1972 and 5–0 against Duisburg in 2011.

Finals

Tschammer-Pokal

Year	Winner	Runner Up	Result	Date	Venue	Attendance
1935	1. FC Nuremberg	Schalke 04	2–0	08/12/35	Düsseldorf	55,000
1936	VfB Leipzig	Schalke 04	2–1	03/01/37	Berlin	70,000
1937	Schalke 04	Fortuna Düsseldorf	2–1	09/01/38	Cologne	72,000
1938	Rapid Wien	FSV Frankfurt	3–1	08/01/39	Berlin	38,000
1939	1. FC Nuremberg	Waldhof Mannheim	2–0	08/04/40	Berlin	60,000
1940	Dresdner SC	1. FC Nuremberg	2–1 aet	01/12/40	Berlin	60,000
1941	Dresdner SC	Schalke 04	2–1	02/10/41	Berlin	65,000
1942	1860 Munich	Schalke 04	2–0	15/11/42	Berlin	80,000
1943	First Vienna	Luftwaffen-SV Hamburg	3–2 aet	31/10/43	Stuttgart	45,000

DFB-Pokal

Year	Winner	Runner Up	Result	Date	Venue	Attendance
1952–53	Rot-Weiss Essen	Alemannia Aachen	2–1	01/05/53	Düsseldorf	40,000
1953–54	VfB Stuttgart	1. FC Köln	1–0 (a.e.t.)	17/04/54	Ludwigshafen	60,000
1954–55	Karlsruher SC	Schalke 04	3–2	21/05/55	Braunschweig	25,000
1955–56	Karlsruher SC	Hamburger SV	3–1	05/08/56	Karlsruhe	25,000
1956–57	Bayern Munich	Fortuna Düsseldorf	1–0	29/12/57	Augsburg	42,000
1957–58	VfB Stuttgart	Fortuna Düsseldorf	4–3 (a.e.t.)	16/10/58	Kassel	28,000
1958–59	Schwarz-Weiss Essen	Borussia Neunkirchen	5–2	27/12/59	Kassel	20,000
1959–60	Borussia Mönchengladbach	Karlsruher SC	3–2	05/10/60	Düsseldorf	50,000
1960–61	Werder Bremen	1. FC Kaiserslautern	2–0	13/09/61	Gelsenkirchen	18,000
1961–62	1. FC Nuremberg	Fortuna Düsseldorf	2–1 (a.e.t.)	29/08/62	Hannover	41,000
1962–63	Hamburger SV	Borussia Dortmund	3–0	14/08/63	Hannover	68,000
1963–64	1860 Munich	Eintracht Frankfurt	2–0	13/06/64	Stuttgart	45,000
1964–65	Borussia Dortmund	Alemannia Aachen	2–0	22/05/65	Hannover	55,000
1965–66	Bayern Munich	Meidericher SV	4–2	04/06/66	Frankfurt am Main	62,000
1966–67	Bayern Munich	Hamburger SV	4–0	10/06/67	Stuttgart	67,000
1967–68	1. FC Köln	VfL Bochum	4–1	09/06/68	Ludwigshafen	60,000
1968–69	Bayern Munich	Schalke 04	2–1	14/06/69	Frankfurt am Main	60,000
1969–70	Kickers Offenbach	1. FC Köln	2–1	29/08/70	Hannover	50,000
1970–71	Bayern Munich	1. FC Köln	2–1 (a.e.t.)	19/06/71	Stuttgart	71,000
1971–72	Schalke 04	1. FC Kaiserslautern	5–0	01/07/72	Hannover	61,000
1972–73	Borussia Mönchengladbach	1. FC Köln	2–1 (a.e.t.)	23/06/73	Düsseldorf	69,000
1973–74	Eintracht Frankfurt	Hamburger SV	3–1 (a.e.t.)	17/08/74	Düsseldorf	52,000
1974–75	Eintracht Frankfurt	MSV Duisburg	1–0	21/06/75	Hannover	43,000
1975–76	Hamburger SV	1. FC Kaiserslautern	2–0	26/06/76	Frankfurt am Main	61,000
1976–77	1. FC Köln	Hertha BSC	1–1 (a.e.t.) 1–0 replay	28/05/77 30/05/77	Hannover	54,000 35,000
1977–78	1. FC Köln	Fortuna Düsseldorf	2–0	15/04/78	Gelsenkirchen	70,000
1978–79	Fortuna Düsseldorf	Hertha BSC	1–0 (a.e.t.)	23/06/79	Hannover	56,000
1979–80	Fortuna Düsseldorf	1. FC Köln	2–1	04/06/80	Gelsenkirchen	56,000
1981	Eintracht Frankfurt	1. FC Kaiserslautern	3–1	02/05/81	Stuttgart	71,000
1982	Bayern Munich	1. FC Nuremberg	4–2	01/05/82	Frankfurt am Main	61,000
1983	1. FC Köln	Fortuna Köln	1–0	11/06/83	Cologne	61,000
1984	Bayern Munich	Borussia Mönchengladbach	1–1 (7–6 pen)	31/05/84	Frankfurt am Main	61,000
1985	Bayer Uerdingen	Bayern Munich	2–1	26/05/85	West Berlin	70,000
1986	Bayern Munich	VfB Stuttgart	5–2	03/05/86	West Berlin	76,000
1987	Hamburger SV	Stuttgarter Kickers	3–1	20/06/87	West Berlin	76,000
1988	Eintracht Frankfurt	VfL Bochum	1–0	28/05/88	West Berlin	76,000
1989	Borussia Dortmund	Werder Bremen	4–1	24/06/89	West Berlin	76,000
1990	1. FC Kaiserslautern	Werder Bremen	3–2	19/05/90	West Berlin	76,000
1991	Werder Bremen	1. FC Köln	1–1 (4–3 pen)	22/06/91	Berlin	73,000
1992	Hannover 96	Borussia Mönchengladbach	0–0 (4–3 pen)	23/05/92	Berlin	76,000
1993	Bayer Leverkusen	Hertha BSC II	1–0	12/06/93	Berlin	76,000
1994	Werder Bremen	Rot-Weiss Essen	3–1	14/05/94	Berlin	76,000
1995	Borussia Mönchengladbach	VfL Wolfsburg	3–0	24/06/95	Berlin	75,700
1996	1. FC Kaiserslautern	Karlsruher SC	1–0	25/05/96	Berlin	75,800
1997	VfB Stuttgart	Energie Cottbus	2–0	14/06/97	Berlin	76,400
1998	Bayern Munich	MSV Duisburg	2–1	16/05/98	Berlin	75,800
1999	Werder Bremen	Bayern Munich	1–1 (5–4 pen)	12/06/99	Berlin	75,841
1999–2000	Bayern Munich	Werder Bremen	3–0	06/05/00	Berlin	76,000
2000–01	Schalke 04	Union Berlin	2–0	26/05/01	Berlin	73,011
2001–02	Schalke 04	Bayer Leverkusen	4–2	11/05/02	Berlin	70,000
2002–03	Bayern Munich	1. FC Kaiserslautern	3–1	31/05/03	Berlin	70,490
2003–04	Werder Bremen	Alemannia Aachen	3–2	29/05/04	Berlin	71,682
2004–05	Bayern Munich	Schalke 04	2–1	28/05/05	Berlin	74,349
2005–06	Bayern Munich	Eintracht Frankfurt	1–0	29/04/06	Berlin	74,349
2006–07	1. FC Nuremberg	VfB Stuttgart	3–2 aet	26/05/07	Berlin	74,220
2008	Bayern Munich	Borussia Dortmund	2–1 aet	19/04/08	Berlin	74,244
2009	Werder Bremen	Bayer Leverkusen	1–0	30/05/09	Berlin	72,244
2010	Bayern Munich	Werder Bremen	4–0	15/05/10	Berlin	72,954
2011	Schalke 04	MSV Duisburg	5–0	21/05/11	Berlin	75,708
2012	Borussia Dortmund	Bayern Munich	5–2	12/05/12	Berlin	75,708
2013	Bayern Munich	VfB Stuttgart	3–2	01/06/13	Berlin	75,420
2014	Bayern Munich	Borussia Dortmund	2–0 aet	17/05/14	Berlin	76,197
2014–15	VfL Wolfsburg	Borussia Dortmund	3–1	30/05/15	Berlin	75,815
2015–16	Bayern Munich	Borussia Dortmund	0–0 (4–3 p)	21/05/16	Berlin	74,322
2016–17	Borussia Dortmund	Eintracht Frankfurt	2–1	27/05/17	Berlin	74,322
2017–18	Eintracht Frankfurt	Bayern Munich	3–1	19/05/18	Berlin	74,322
2018–19	Bayern Munich	RB Leipzig	3–0	25/05/19	Berlin	74,322
2019–20	Bayern Munich	Bayer Leverkusen	4–2	04/07/20	Berlin	0
2019–20	Borussia Dortmund	RB Leipzig	4–1	13/5/21	Berlin	0
2021–22	RB Leipzig	SC Freiburg	1–1 (4–2 p)	21/05/22	Berlin	74,322

Performance by club

Club	Winners	Runners-up	Winning Years
Bayern Munich	20	4	1957, 1966, 1967, 1969, 1971, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2019, 2020
Werder Bremen	6	4	1961, 1991, 1994, 1999, 2004, 2009
Schalke 04	5	7	1937, 1972, 2001, 2002, 2011
Borussia Dortmund	5	5	1965, 1989, 2012, 2017, 2021
Eintracht Frankfurt	5	3	1974, 1975, 1981, 1988, 2018
1. FC Köln	4	6	1968, 1977, 1978, 1983
1. FC Nürnberg	4	2	1935, 1939, 1962, 2007
VfB Stuttgart	3	3	1954, 1958, 1997
Hamburger SV	3	3	1963, 1976, 1987
Borussia Mönchengladbach	3	2	1960, 1973, 1995
Fortuna Düsseldorf	2	5	1979, 1980
1. FC Kaiserslautern	2	5	1990, 1996
Karlsruher SC	2	2	1955, 1956
Dresdner SC	2	—	1940, 1941
1860 Munich	2	—	1942, 1964
Bayer Leverkusen	1	3	1993
RB Leipzig	1	2	2022
Rot-Weiss Essen	1	1	1953
VfL Wolfsburg	1	1	2015
KFC Uerdingen 05	1	—	1985
Hannover 96	1	—	1992
1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig	1	—	1936
Kickers Offenbach	1	—	1970
Rapid Wien	1	—	1938
Schwarz-Weiss Essen	1	—	1959
First Vienna	1	—	1943
MSV Duisburg	—	4	—
Alemannia Aachen	—	3	—
VfL Bochum	—	2	—
Hertha BSC	—	2	—
Borussia Neunkirchen	—	1	—
Energie Cottbus	—	1	—
Fortuna Köln	—	1	—
FSV Frankfurt	—	1	—
SC Freiburg	—	1	—
Hertha BSC II	—	1	—
Luftwaffen-SV Hamburg	—	1	—
Stuttgarter Kickers	—	1	—
Union Berlin	—	1	—
Waldhof Mannheim	—	1	—

East German Cup (1949–91)

East Germany also had its own national cup: the FDGB Cup, the cup of the Freie Deutsche Gewerkschaftsbund, the association of the East German trade unions. It was introduced in 1949 and awarded annually until 1991 after German reunification in 1990 led to the merger of the football leagues of the two Germanys.

Women's German Cup

Since 1981 women's football clubs have competed for the Frauen DFB Pokal. An East German women's cup was also held from 1987 to 1991.

Media coverage

In Australia the DFB-Pokal was broadcast by Setanta Sports until the 2009–10 season.

In the United Kingdom, selected ties are broadcast by ESPN for the 2012–13 season.

In the United States of America, the DFB-Pokal is broadcast on ESPN 3.

External links

• DFB Pokal German Cup page from DFB (German)
• DFB Pokal German Cup page from DFB
• League321.com – National cup results
• (West) Germany - List of Cup Finals, RSSSF.com

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