Germany DFB Cup 2025/2026 - Discussion and Prediction

[Soonandwaite]

today was the draw for the first round of the dfb cup 2025 / 2026 . will another underdog reach the final in berlin this time ? or will bayern münchen once again be in a final ?
let us now be surprised for a few months . the final is 23 may 2026 in berlin's olympiast

SG Dynamo Dresden - 1. FSV Mainz 05
DSC Arminia Bielefeld - SV Werder Bremen
1. FC Schweinfurt 05 - Fortuna Düsseldorf
SV Wehen Wiesbaden - FC Bayern München
SG Sonnehof Großaspach - Bayer 04 Leverkusen
1. FC Saarbrücken - 1. FC Magdeburg
1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig - FC Schalke 04
Bahlinger SC - 1. FC Heidenheim
F.C. Hansa Rostock - TSG Hoffenheim
TuS Blau-Weiß Lohne - SpVgg Greuther Fürth
SV Sandhausen - RB Leipzig
FC Energie Cottbus - Hannover 96
FC Eintracht Norderstedt - FC St. Pauli
SC Preußen Münster - Hertha BSC
FC Gütersloh - 1. FC Union Berlin
FC 08 Homburg - Holstein Kiel
SSV Jahn Regensburg - 1. FC Köln
Sportfreunde Lotte - Sport-Club Freiburg
BFC Dynamo Berlin - VfL Bochum
VfB Lübeck - SV Darmstadt 98
FV Engers 07 - Eintracht Frankfurt
FV Illertissen - 1. FC Nürnberg
ZFC Meuselwitz - Karlsruher SC
Eintracht Braunschweig - VfB Stuttgart
Rot-Weiss Essen - Borussia Dortmund
RSV Eintracht Stahnsdorf - 1. FC Kaiserslautern
FC Viktoria Köln - SC Paderborn 07
SV Atlas Delmenhorst - Borussia Mönchengladbach
Hallescher FC - FC Augsburg
FK 03 Pirmasens - Hamburger SV
SV Hemelingen - VfL Wolfsburg
SSV Ulm 1846 - SV Elversberg

source: https://www.transfermarkt.de/dfb-pokal/startseite/pokalwettbewerb/DFB/saison_id/2025  

[GiftedMAN]

I think it is too early to know which team will be in the finals but looking at the whole grouping, you could see that most of underdog teams are going to face big teams which will make it difficult for them to get to the final stages but if they manage to get to escape the big teams in the group stages on getting to the semi finals or the finals you must see one of the big teams that will stand as the obstacle to win the cup from the underdog teams.

Bayern Munich is one of the favourite teams to win the cup because they are the best team in the league but if they are eliminated very early which is not possible then the underdog teams will have the advantage to fight against the other top teams from winning the cup.

[Velvet78]

will another underdog reach the final in berlin this time ? or will bayern münchen once again be in a final ?

Once again? Not really actually. Because Bayern Munich's biggest success in the cup in the recent 5 years was to reach the quarter-finals.    That even happened only for once. The last time they won the cup is the 19/20 season so...

I assume this is mainly because of not concentrating the same as the other tournaments. Otherwise they shouldn't have big problems on reaching the final nearly all the time. Let's see what's waiting for us next season.

[Upgrade00]

<snip> or will bayern münchen once again be in a final ?

Bayern have not actually been in a Pokal final since 2020. They used to be regulars before that but have not been for some years now.

The tournament will only start to take shape after the first 3-4 rounds and we'll begin to have a glimpse of which teams may go further and if we'll get an underdog story this time.

[mv1986]

<snip> or will bayern münchen once again be in a final ?

Bayern have not actually been in a Pokal final since 2020. They used to be regulars before that but have not been for some years now.

The tournament will only start to take shape after the first 3-4 rounds and we'll begin to have a glimpse of which teams may go further and if we'll get an underdog story this time.

From the third round on is about right, but don't forget that we had games like Kiel against Bayern in the past I think when Kiel beat Bayern and they were not in the 1. Bundesliga, am I right @Soonandwaite?

There is certainly no guarantee that round 1 and round 2 will go without surprises. We have had that often enough. In round 1 and round 2 the rule is that there are two buckets for the draws. First bucket is 1. Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga and then all other teams from the leagues below.

Just remember how Bielefeld eliminated top teams all the way and made it to the final and the were in the second bucket. That's the fun about DFB Pokal, David shocking Goliath.

[Slow death]

This is a competition that is very difficult to predict who will be the champion at the beginning of the competition, Bayern have not managed to become champions since 2021 and have also not managed to reach the final since 2021, it has been many years, since 2021 the winners have been alternating between Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig, Bayer Leverkusen and now the recent champion VfB Stuttgart.

So it is possible that we will see Dortmund managing to be champions, because Leverkusen, RB Leipzig and will be weak compared to last season in my opinion. We will have more details when the games start

[Upgrade00]

From the third round on is about right, but don't forget that we had games like Kiel against Bayern in the past I think when Kiel beat Bayern and they were not in the 1. Bundesliga, am I right @Soonandwaite?

I don't remember this particular game, but there has been so many surprises over the years.

Just remember how Bielefeld eliminated top teams all the way and made it to the final and the were in the second bucket. That's the fun about DFB Pokal, David shocking Goliath.

That's the theme of cup competitions in different leagues. Smaller teams usually can spring up a top level performance and shock much bigger teams. Armenia last season has a dream run and I actually expected them to compete better in the final, but that wasn't to be.

[mv1986]

From the third round on is about right, but don't forget that we had games like Kiel against Bayern in the past I think when Kiel beat Bayern and they were not in the 1. Bundesliga, am I right @Soonandwaite?

I don't remember this particular game, but there has been so many surprises over the years.

Just remember how Bielefeld eliminated top teams all the way and made it to the final and the were in the second bucket. That's the fun about DFB Pokal, David shocking Goliath.

That's the theme of cup competitions in different leagues. Smaller teams usually can spring up a top level performance and shock much bigger teams. Armenia last season has a dream run and I actually expected them to compete better in the final, but that wasn't to be.

Now I got interested and I quickly found it. It was the second round game between Kiel and Bayern in 2020/21 when Kiel scored the equaliser in 90.+5 after Bayern took the lead two times during the game, then Kiel survived overtime and got into the penalty shootout. I was just reading the summary and saw that Alaba scored a penalty. That tings the bell, doesn't it? Time flies by when Alaba was still playing for Bayern

This is one example that even Bayern isn't safe from getting eliminated in the second round and for them it is brutal in terms of public criticism and pressure. So there is always this latent feeling of big failure if one of these major clubs from Germany (or in any other league for that matter) gets eliminated so early against an underdog. But for us football fans it is fun to see the underdogs win in those competitions.

[AHOYBRAUSE]

I think it is too early to know which team will be in the finals but looking at the whole grouping, you could see that most of underdog teams are going to face big teams which will make it difficult for them to get to the final stages but if they manage to get to escape the big teams in the group stages on getting to the semi finals or the finals you must see one of the big teams that will stand as the obstacle to win the cup from the underdog teams.

Well there is a reason for this kind of draw. In the first round 1st and 2nd league teams can't play with each other because they are on one side of the draw and the rest is on the other side. So the worst that can happen for a 1st/2nd league team is facing of again a team from the 3rd league (including some extra rules for some teams that recently went up or down between the 3nd and 3rd tier).

Anyway, this brings exciting upset possibilities and home games for lower tier teams that can square off with the big names in Germany. Also it guarantees to not lose many big names in the first round obviously.

[cygan]

the first round of the dfb cup finally starts tomorrow, and with it the first important matches for the bundesliga clubs!
this competition is a very good opportunity for the smaller clubs, including the lower leagues, to flush some money into their respective treasuries.
this is what the bonuses for this season will look like:

1st round: 211.886 EUR
2nd round: 423.772 EUR
round of 16: 847.544 EUR
round of 8: 1.695.088 EUR
half-finals: 3.390.175 EUR
final (looser): 2.880.000 EUR
dfb-cup winnerr: 4.320.000 EUR

[cygan]

the first round of the dfb cup is now over as of yesterday
defending champions vfb stuttgart and german champions bayern munich narrowly avoided embarrassment but still managed to qualify for the second round
werder bremen is the only bundesliga team to be eliminated in the first round (0-1 vs. bielefeld)

[Soonandwaite]

werder bremen is the only bundesliga team to be eliminated in the first round (0-1 vs. bielefeld)

and now.........full focus on the german championship 

[DubemIfedigbo001]

I think it is too early to know which team will be in the finals but looking at the whole grouping, you could see that most of underdog teams are going to face big teams which will make it difficult for them to get to the final stages but if they manage to get to escape the big teams in the group stages on getting to the semi finals or the finals you must see one of the big teams that will stand as the obstacle to win the cup from the underdog teams.

Many underdog teams are performing wonders these days and manning up to the supposed big teams. Yesterday was terrific for Bayern Munich with a narrow escape from sharing the points with Wehen Wiesbaden yesterday in a group match. It was not funny for them as they were shown  a big challenge by the supposed underdogs. I still agree with you that when it comes to the most critical stages of these competitions, the bigger clubs tend to prevail since they are more experienced and have more quality players and managers who bring strategies to overcome these lower teams at those levels. In England yesterday, in a similar cup, a tier D team won Manchester united on penalty shootouts, sending the red devils home

[emrecemsan]

Bayern Munich had a big hardship on beating Wehen last night.    Couldn't prevent 2-2 from 2-0 and barely scored the winner in the stoppage time after...

What do you think? Will it be another year in which we see them being pushed out of the DFB Pokal?

Just checked and saw that Bayern Munich couldn't win this cup for 5 years.

[knowngunman]

Bayern Munich had a big hardship on beating Wehen last night.    Couldn't prevent 2-2 from 2-0 and barely scored the winner in the stoppage time after...

What do you think? Will it be another year in which we see them being pushed out of the DFB Pokal?

Just checked and saw that Bayern Munich couldn't win this cup for 5 years.

It's high time the supposed big teams stop underestimating the teams from lower league. I believe Bayern Munich learned some lessons yesterday for underestimating their opponents for almost drawing the game.

They were lucky for Harry Kane last minute goal that helped them with the victory. It wasn't something to be proud of honestly because a team like that shouldn't be scoring two goals against Bayern Munich for God's sake.

That game should be an eye opener for Kompany to strengthen the defence as fast as possible before it becomes too vulnerable.

[Slow death]

Bayern Munich had a big hardship on beating Wehen last night.    Couldn't prevent 2-2 from 2-0 and barely scored the winner in the stoppage time after...

What do you think? Will it be another year in which we see them being pushed out of the DFB Pokal?

Just checked and saw that Bayern Munich couldn't win this cup for 5 years.

Hey, I was surprised by this result. But I was also surprised by the results of other Bundesliga teams. It wasn't just Bayern that faced problems in this competition. Dortmund, Mainz, and Stuttgart also had trouble beating opponents who, on paper, I assumed they could comfortably beat, but unfortunately, they struggled to score.

These three teams I mentioned couldn't score more than one goal in their games. Perhaps because the coaches greatly underestimated their opponents. I believe that in the next games, the coaches of these teams won't repeat the same mistakes. The teams in the lower divisions are getting stronger, unlike in the past.

[cygan]

today, the 2nd round of the dfb cup was drawn, and among other things, eintracht frankfurt vs. borussia dortmund was drawn as a real top match
defending champion vfb stuttgart must play away at mainz 05, and bayern munich travels to 1. fc köln