DFB-Pokal facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
DFB-Pokal

Organising body	Deutscher Fußball-Bund
Founded	1935; 90 years ago (1935)
Region	Germany
Number of teams	64
Qualifier for	UEFA Europa League
Domestic cup(s)	DFL-Supercup
Current champions	VfB Stuttgart (4th title)
Most successful club(s)	Bayern Munich (20 titles)
Television broadcasters	ARD Sky Sport OneFootball

The DFB-Pokal, also known as the German Cup, is a big football competition in Germany. It's a "knockout" tournament, which means teams are eliminated if they lose a match. The German Football Association (DFB) organizes it every year.

Sixty-four teams play in the DFB-Pokal. This includes all clubs from the top two German leagues, the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. The four best teams from the 3. Liga also join. It's the second most important football title in Germany, after the Bundesliga championship. The tournament runs from August to May. The team that wins the DFB-Pokal gets to play in the DFL-Supercup. They also get a spot in the UEFA Europa League, which is a big European competition.

The competition started in 1935. Back then, it was called the Tschammer-Pokal. 1. FC Nürnberg was the first team to win it. In 1937, Schalke 04 became the first team to win "the double". This means they won both the league and the cup in the same year. The Tschammer-Pokal stopped in 1944 because of World War II. It was brought back in 1952–53 in West Germany as the DFB-Pokal. Rot-Weiss Essen won the first DFB-Pokal.

Bayern Munich has won the DFB-Pokal a record 20 times. The current champions are VfB Stuttgart. They won their fourth title in the 2025 final by beating Arminia Bielefeld 4–2. Fortuna Düsseldorf holds a record for winning 18 games in a row in the tournament. This happened between 1978 and 1981. They won the cup in both 1979 and 1980.

How the Tournament Works

The way the DFB-Pokal is played has changed over the years.

Who Can Play?

The DFB-Pokal starts with 64 teams. The 36 teams from the Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga automatically qualify. The top four teams from the 3. Liga also get a spot. The other 21 spots go to the winners of regional cup competitions. These are called Verbandspokale. The last three spots are given to the three regional football associations with the most men's teams. They usually give these spots to the runner-up teams in their regional cups.

Almost any team in the German football league system can try to qualify. They do this by playing in local tournaments. However, reserve teams, like Bayern Munich II, are not allowed to enter.

How Teams Are Chosen for Matches

For the first round, the 64 teams are put into two groups, or "pots," of 32 teams each. One pot has the 18 teams from the previous Bundesliga season. It also includes the top 14 teams from the previous 2. Bundesliga season. The other pot has the bottom 4 teams from the 2. Bundesliga. It also includes the top 4 teams from the 3. Liga. Finally, the 24 amateur teams that won their regional cups are in this pot.

Teams from one pot play against teams from the other pot. Since 1982, the amateur teams always play their games at home. For the second round, teams are again divided into two pots. The same rules apply for drawing opponents.

For all later rounds, except the final, teams are drawn from just one pot. Since 1985, the final match has always been held at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin.

Match Rules

If a game is a draw after 90 minutes, teams play extra time. This means two more 15-minute halves. If the score is still tied after extra time, they have a penalty shootout. This decides the winner.

History of the DFB-Pokal

The number of teams in the main tournament has changed a lot. It was as few as four teams from 1956 to 1960. It grew to 128 teams from 1973 to 1982. Since the Bundesliga started in 1963, all Bundesliga clubs have automatically qualified. All 2. Bundesliga clubs have qualified since their league began in 1974. Reserve teams used to be allowed but have been excluded since 2008.

The final has been held in the Olympic Stadium in Berlin every season since 1985. Before 1985, the location of the final was decided closer to the time.

Originally, if a game was a draw after extra time, it was replayed. The team that played away in the first game would then play at home. In the 1939 Tschammer-Pokal, one semi-final game was drawn three times! The winner was decided by drawing lots. Later, the DFB decided to use penalty shootouts if a replay was also a draw. This change was made after a similar situation in the 1970 cup.

In 1971–72 and 1972–73, matches were played over two games, called "legs." If the total score was a draw after both legs, extra time was played. If still tied, a penalty shootout decided the winner. In 1977, the final had to be replayed, which caused problems. After that, the DFB decided that cup finals would no longer be replayed. Instead, they would go straight to a penalty shootout after extra time. This rule was then applied to all cup games in 1991.

Playing in Europe

Since 1960, the DFB-Pokal winner has qualified for European competitions. First, it was the European Cup Winners' Cup. If the cup winner had already qualified for the UEFA Champions League, the team that lost in the final would get the spot instead. After the Cup Winners' Cup ended in 1999, the DFB-Pokal winner started qualifying for the UEFA Europa League. If the DFB-Pokal winner (or both finalists) already qualified for European cups through their league position, the next best team in the Bundesliga gets the Europa League spot.

The First German Cup

The very first German cup was in 1935. It was called the von Tschammer und Osten Pokal, or Tschammerpokal. It was named after Hans von Tschammer und Osten, who was the Sports Chief at the time. The first final was between 1. FC Nürnberg and Schalke 04. Nürnberg won 2–0. After the last Tschammerpokal in 1943, the cup didn't happen for almost ten years. The German Football Association (DFB) brought it back in 1952 as the DFB-Pokal. In 1965, the original trophy was replaced with the one used today. This was because the old trophy reminded people of the Nazi era.

Big Surprises

The DFB-Pokal used to be only for teams from the top German leagues. But from 1974, amateur clubs could also enter. Before 2008, only the top two leagues were fully professional. With the start of the 3. Liga in 2008, the third tier also became professional.

When professional and amateur teams started playing each other, it led to many surprising results. In 1974, Hamburger SV lost to VfB Eppingen. This was a huge upset, as it was the first time an amateur team knocked out a Bundesliga club. In 1990, a fourth-division team, SpVgg Fürth, beat Borussia Dortmund.

In 1993, the reserve team of Hertha BSC, Hertha BSC II, even reached the cup final! This was a first for a third-division club and a reserve team. In 1997, Eintracht Trier beat both Schalke 04 and Borussia Dortmund. In 2000, 1. FC Magdeburg became the first fourth-division team to knock out two Bundesliga clubs in one season. Hannover 96, a second-division team at the time, won the cup after beating several Bundesliga teams.

These surprise results get a lot of attention in Germany and sometimes even abroad. When TSV Vestenbergsgreuth beat Bayern Munich in 1994, an Italian sports newspaper reported it on its front page!

Records

Bayern Munich has won the most DFB-Pokal titles, with 20 wins. They have been the most successful team since 1969. Fortuna Düsseldorf holds the record for winning 18 German Cup matches in a row between 1978 and 1981. Werder Bremen has won the most home games in a row (37 between 1988 and 2019). Bayern Munich has won the most away games in a row (33 between 2009 and 2020). Schalke 04 holds the record for the biggest win in a DFB-Pokal final. They won 5–0 against 1. FC Kaiserslautern in 1972 and 5–0 against MSV Duisburg in 2011.

Final Matches

The Trophy

Tschammer-Pokal Finals

DFB-Pokal Finals

Club Performance

East German Cup

East Germany had its own national cup competition. It was called the FDGB-Pokal. This cup started in 1949 and continued every year until 1991. After Germany became one country again in 1990, the two German football leagues merged.

Women's German Cup

Since 1981, women's football clubs have also played for their own DFB-Pokal. This is called the DFB-Pokal Frauen. There was also a women's cup in East Germany from 1987 to 1991.

Watching the Games

In Germany

In Germany, you can watch 15 DFB-Pokal matches each season on ARD and ZDF. All matches are available on Sky Sport.

Around the World

For countries that don't have special TV rights, all matches are streamed live. You can watch them on the German Football YouTube channel and DFB Play.

See also

In Spanish: Copa de Alemania para niños