DFB-Pokal 2025: Results, dates, broadcast – 1st round

Even before the start of the new Bundesliga season, the first round of the 2025/26 DFB-Pokal begins. Amateurs will face off against professionals, with teams from the Oberliga to the Bundesliga qualifying. All the information about the matches and the broadcast at a glance.

The cup traditionally starts one week before the Bundesliga kicks off – the first round begins at the beginning of August 2025. The competition consists of six rounds in total, with the final taking place on May 23, 2026, at Berlin's Olympic Stadium.

In total, the field of participants includes 64 teams:

• All clubs from the 1st and 2nd Bundesliga of the previous season
• The four best-placed teams in the 3rd division
• Other teams from the 3rd league, the Regionalliga and the Oberliga that qualified via their state cups

All 64 teams for the 2025/26 DFB-Pokal have been confirmed: After the final day of the amateur competition on May 24, the final starting spots were awarded. In addition to the 36 professional clubs from the Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga, as well as the four best teams from the 3. Liga, 24 clubs qualified via the regional cups. Two clubs each were allowed to participate in Bavaria, Lower Saxony, and Westphalia – including final losers and regional league leaders such as Schweinfurt, Gütersloh, and Lotte.

Oberliga

• FV Engers 07 (as state cup winner Rhineland)
• RSV Eintracht 1949 (as Brandenburg State Cup winner)
• SV Atlas Delmenhorst (as Lower Saxony/Oberliga State Cup winner and District Cup winner)
• FK 03 Pirmasens (as Southwest Regional Cup winner)
• SV Hemelingen (as Bremen State Cup winner)

Regional League

• BFC Dynamo (as Berlin State Cup winner)
• FC Eintracht Norderstedt (as Hamburg State Cup winner)
• Blau-Weiß Lohne (as Lower Saxony State Cup winner/3rd League + Regional League)
• ZFC Meuselwitz (as Thuringia State Cup winner)
• SV Sandhausen (as Baden State Cup winner)
• Hallescher FC (as Saxony-Anhalt State Cup winner)
• VfB Lübeck (as Schleswig-Holstein state cup winner)
• Bahlinger SC (as South Baden State Cup winner)
• SG Sonnenhof Großaspach (as Württemberg State Cup winner)
• FV Illertissen (as Bavarian State Cup winner)
• FC 08 Homburg (as Saarland State Cup winner)
• Sportfreunde Lotte (as Westphalia State Cup finalist)
• FC Gütersloh (as the best Westphalian team in the Regionalliga West)
• 1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig (as Saxony State Cup winner)

3rd League

• SSV Ulm 1846 (as second division team in the 24/25 season)
• SSV Jahn Regensburg (as second division team of the 2024/2025 season)
• 1. FC Saarbrücken (third in the 3rd league)
• FC Energie Cottbus (fourth in the 3rd league)
• FC Hansa Rostock (as state cup winners of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania)
• FC Viktoria Köln (as Middle Rhine State Cup winner)
• Rot-Weiss Essen (as Lower Rhine State Cup winner)
• SV Wehen Wiesbaden (as Hesse State Cup winner)
• 1. FC Schweinfurt (as Bavarian Amateur Champion)

2. Bundesliga

• Holstein Kiel
• VfL Bochum
• SV 07 Elversberg
• SC Paderborn 07
• 1. FC Magdeburg
• Fortuna Düsseldorf
• 1. FC Kaiserslautern
• Karlsruher SC
• Hanover 96
• 1. FC Nuremberg
• Hertha BSC
• SV Darmstadt 98
• SpVgg Greuther Fürth
• FC Schalke 04
• SC Preußen Münster
• Eintracht Braunschweig
• Dynamo Dresden (second in the 3rd league)
• Arminia Bielefeld (as champions of the 3rd division)

Bundesliga

• FC Bayern Munich
• Bayer 04 Leverkusen
• Eintracht Frankfurt
• Borussia Dortmund
• SC Freiburg
• 1. FSV Mainz 05
• RB Leipzig
• SV Werder Bremen
• VfB Stuttgart
• Borussia Mönchengladbach
• VfL Wolfsburg
• FC Augsburg
• 1. FC Union Berlin
• FC St. Pauli
• TSG Hoffenheim
• 1. FC Heidenheim
• 1. FC Cologne
• Hamburger SV

Traditionally, most of the DFB-Pokal first-round matches take place on the Saturday and Sunday of the cup weekend. However, this year's round began on Friday, August 15, 2025 , featuring a clash between last year's finalists Arminia Bielefeld and Werder Bremen .

Four more matches will follow on Monday, August 18 , including the eagerly awaited Ruhrpott derby between Rot-Weiss Essen and Borussia Dortmund , which will conclude the regular cup weekend.

Since the DFL Supercup between the German champions and the cup winners of the previous season will also be played on the same weekend, the first-round matches of the participating teams in the DFB Cup have been postponed:

• On Tuesday, August 26 , cup winners VfB Stuttgart will play away at Eintracht Braunschweig .
• On Wednesday, August 27 , the German champions FC Bayern Munich will play at Wehen Wiesbaden .

In the DFB Cup, the following applies: The lower-class team has home advantage, provided it meets the infrastructural requirements.

After the first round, the season continues in October – by then it's already in full swing. The remaining DFB Cup dates at a glance:

• 2nd main round: October 28/29, 2025
• Round of 16: December 2/3, 2025
• Quarterfinals: 3/4 and 10/11 February 2026
• Semifinals: April 21/22, 2026
• Final: May 23, 2026

The broadcasting rights for the entire DFB Cup remain with Sky and the public broadcasters ARD and ZDF .

Sky will broadcast all of the season's games live – from the first round to the final, either as individual matches or in the conference. The broadcasts are available on pay-TV and the paid streaming service WOW.

ARD and ZDF are permitted to broadcast a few selected matches per round on free TV. The DFB and the broadcasters decide which matches these are. The public broadcasters do not offer a comprehensive live conference or comprehensive live coverage. The ARD Sportschau program is limited to match summaries.

In the first main round of the 2025/26 DFB-Pokal, four matches will be broadcast free to air:

• Friday, August 15 (8:45 p.m.) : Arminia Bielefeld – Werder Bremen ( ZDF )
• Monday, August 18 (8:45 p.m.) : Rot-Weiss Essen – Borussia Dortmund ( ARD )
• Tuesday, 26 August (8.45 p.m.) : Eintracht Braunschweig – VfB Stuttgart ( ARD )
• Wednesday, 27 August (8.45 p.m.) : Wehen Wiesbaden – FC Bayern Munich ( ZDF )

All remaining 28 matches of the first round can be seen exclusively on Sky and WOW.

The DFB-Pokal was founded in 1935 and is now one of the most important national competitions in German football. Every year, 64 teams from professional and amateur leagues compete for a place in the final at Berlin's Olympic Stadium.

The record winner is FC Bayern Munich with 20 titles, followed by Werder Bremen (6). Borussia Dortmund, Eintracht Frankfurt, and Schalke 04 have each won the cup five times. The most frequent final matchup to date has been FC Bayern versus Borussia Dortmund – in 2008, 2012, 2014, and 2016.

In recent years, several clubs have shared the title. Here's an overview of the finals of the last ten seasons: