# 2011–12 DFB-Pokal

The 2011–12 DFB-Pokal was the 69th season of the annual German football cup competition. It commenced on 29 July 2011 with the first of six rounds and concluded on 12 May 2012 with the final at the Olympiastadion in Berlin.
Since both finalists have qualified for the UEFA Champions League, the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League (group stage) spot was given to the fifth-placed Bundesliga team. Schalke 04 were the reigning holders, but they were beaten by Borussia Mönchengladbach in the round of 16.

## Participating clubs

The following 64 teams competed in the first round:
| Bundesliga the 18 clubs of the 2010–11 season | 2. Bundesliga the 18 clubs of the 2010–11 season | 3. Liga the top 4 clubs of the 2010–11 season |
| SV Werder Bremen Borussia Dortmund Eintracht Frankfurt SC Freiburg Hamburger SV Hannover 96 TSG 1899 Hoffenheim 1. FC Kaiserslautern 1. FC Köln Bayer 04 Leverkusen 1. FSV Mainz 05 Borussia Mönchengladbach FC Bayern Munich 1. FC Nürnberg FC Schalke 04 VfB Stuttgart FC St. Pauli VfL Wolfsburg | Alemannia Aachen FC Erzgebirge Aue FC Augsburg 1. FC Union Berlin Arminia Bielefeld VfL Bochum FC Energie Cottbus MSV Duisburg Fortuna Düsseldorf FSV Frankfurt SpVgg Greuther Fürth Hertha BSC FC Ingolstadt 04 Karlsruher SC TSV 1860 Munich Rot-Weiß Oberhausen VfL Osnabrück SC Paderborn 07 | Eintracht Braunschweig Dynamo Dresden F.C. Hansa Rostock SV Wehen Wiesbaden |
| Winners of 21 regional cup competitions |||
| Baden SV Sandhausen Bavaria SSV Jahn Regensburg (CW) SpVgg Unterhaching Berlin BFC Dynamo Brandenburg SV Babelsberg 03 Bremen FC Oberneuland Hamburg Eimsbütteler TV Hesse KSV Hessen Kassel | Lower Rhine Rot-Weiss Essen Lower Saxony Kickers Emden VfB Oldenburg Mecklenburg-Vorpommern FC Anker Wismar Middle Rhine Germania Windeck Rhineland Eintracht Trier Saarland 1. FC Saarbrücken Saxony RB Leipzig | Saxony-Anhalt Hallescher FC Schleswig-Holstein Holstein Kiel South Baden FC Teningen Southwest SVN Zweibrücken Thuringia ZFC Meuselwitz Westphalia SC Wiedenbrück 2000 (CW) Rot Weiss Ahlen Württemberg 1. FC Heidenheim 1846 |
* 1 2 3 The three regions with the most participating teams in their league competitions (Bavaria, Lower Saxony, Westphalia) are allowed to enter two teams for the competition.
* ↑ Bavarian Cup runners-up SV Wacker Burghausen had to compete in a play-off against SpVgg Unterhaching, the winners of the match between the losing semi-finalists, for the second Bavarian spot; this play-off was won by Unterhaching.
* ↑ Since SV Wehen Wiesbaden will enter the competition via their league placement, runners-up Hessen Kassel will inherit the spot reserved for the cup winners.
* ↑ Since Eintracht Braunschweig will enter the competition via their league placement, VfB Oldenburg and TSV Ottersberg as losing semi-finalists played a single match to determine the second Lower Saxony participant. This match was won by Oldenburg.
* ↑ Since F.C. Hansa Rostock will enter the competition via their league placement, runners-up Anker Wismar will inherit the spot reserved for the cup winners.

## Schedule

The rounds of the 2011–12 competition are scheduled as follows:
| Round | Draw date | Matches |
| First round | 11 June 2011 | 29 July–1 August 2011 |
| Second round | 6 August 2011 | 25–26 October 2011 |
| Round of 16 | | 20–21 December 2011 |
| Quarter-finals | | 7–8 February 2012 |
| Semi-finals | | 20–21 March 2012 |
| Final | | 12 May 2012 at Olympiastadion, Berlin |

## Draw

The draws for the different rounds are conducted as following: For the first round, the participating teams will be split into two pots. The first pot contains all teams which have qualified through their regional cup competitions, the best four teams of the 3rd Liga and the bottom four teams of the Second Bundesliga. Every team from this pot will be drawn to a team from the second pot, which contains all remaining professional 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 3rd Liga/amateur teams in the first pot and the remaining professional teams in the other 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 3rd Liga/amateur team will be the home team if drawn against a professional team. In every other case, the first-drawn team will serve as hosts.

## Matches
### First round

The draw was made on 11 June 2011.
As in the 2010–11 competition, Hallescher FC will have to move their first-round match against Eintracht Frankfurt to another ground because re-building of their own Kurt-Wabbel-Stadion has not yet been completed. After several attempts of moving the tie to other locations, including Paul Greifzu Stadium at nearby Dessau-Roßlau and Frankenstadion at Nuremberg, were unsuccessful because of security concerns, the match will eventually be played at cross-town Stadion am Bildungszentrum, the current home ground of the club. Anker Wismar will also have to move their tie against Hannover 96 from their own Paul-Bürger-Stadion because of security requirements. The match will be played at Lohmühle, Lübeck. Other matches have been moved for capacity reasons, including FC Teningen–FC Schalke 04 (to be played at Badenova-Stadion in nearby Freiburg), SC Wiedenbrück 2000–1. FC Köln (to be played at Heidewaldstadion, Gütersloh), SVN Zweibrücken–1. FSV Mainz 05 (to be played at Waldstadion, Homburg) and Germania Windeck–1899 Hoffenheim (Sportpark Höhenberg, Cologne). Headlines made Hamburg Cup winner Eimsbütteler TV, who lost almost its complete first and second teams because of disagreements over how to split the money earned from reaching the first round. ETV was forced to field a side predominantly made up of players from its under-19 side.
All times CEST

### Second round

The draw for this round took place on 6 August 2011. The matches were played on 25–26 October 2011.

### Round of 16

The draw for this round took place on 30 October 2011. The matches were played on 20–21 December 2011.

### Quarter-finals

The draw for this round took place on 21 December 2011. The matches were played on 7–8 February 2012.
All times CET

### Semi-finals

The draw for this round took place on 11 February 2012. The matches were played on 20–21 March 2012.
All times CET

### Final
## Top goalscorers

Final statistics.

### 7 goals

* Robert Lewandowski (Borussia Dortmund)

### 5 goals

* Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (Schalke 04)

### 4 goals

* Adrián Ramos (Hertha BSC)
* Sercan Sararer (Greuther Fürth)

### 3 goals

* Cacau (VfB Stuttgart)
* Markus Feulner (1. FC Nürnberg)
* Daniel Frahn (RB Leipzig)
* Marco Reus (Borussia Mönchengladbach)
* Sascha Rösler (Fortuna Düsseldorf)
* Matthew Taylor (SC Paderborn)