# 2008–09 DFB-Pokal

The 2008–09 DFB-Pokal was the 66th season of the annual German football cup competition. The competition began with the first round on 7 August 2008, and ended with Werder Bremen defeating Bayer Leverkusen, who for their part eliminated defending champions Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals, in the final at the Olympiastadion, Berlin on 30 May 2009. The winners of the 2008–09 DFB-Pokal would qualify to the fourth qualifying round of the 2009–10 UEFA Europa League.
Due to a decision made in 2006, reserve teams from professional clubs are no longer allowed to compete.

## Participating clubs

The following 64 teams competed in the first round:
| Bundesliga the 18 clubs of the 2007–08 season | 2. Bundesliga the 18 clubs of the 2007–08 season | Fußball-Regionalliga the top 4 clubs of the 2007–08 season |
| Arminia Bielefeld VfL Bochum SV Werder Bremen FC Energie Cottbus Borussia Dortmund MSV Duisburg Eintracht Frankfurt Hamburger SV Hannover 96 Hertha BSC Karlsruher SC Bayer 04 Leverkusen FC Bayern Munich 1. FC Nürnberg F.C. Hansa Rostock FC Schalke 04 VfB Stuttgart VfL Wolfsburg | Alemannia Aachen FC Augsburg FC Erzgebirge Aue SC Freiburg SpVgg Greuther Fürth TSG 1899 Hoffenheim FC Carl Zeiss Jena 1. FC Kaiserslautern TuS Koblenz 1. FC Köln 1. FSV Mainz 05 Borussia Mönchengladbach TSV 1860 Munich Kickers Offenbach VfL Osnabrück SC Paderborn 07 FC St. Pauli SV Wehen Wiesbaden | Rot-Weiß Ahlen FSV Frankfurt FC Ingolstadt 04 Rot-Weiß Oberhausen |
| Winners of 21 regional cup competitions |||
| Baden ASV Durlach Bavaria SpVgg Unterhaching (CW) SpVgg Ansbach Berlin Tennis Borussia Berlin Brandenburg SV Babelsberg 03 Bremen FC Oberneuland Hamburg ASV Bergedorf 85 Hesse SV Darmstadt 98 | Lower Rhine Rot-Weiß Essen Lower Saxony Eintracht Nordhorn (CW) FC Hansa Lüneburg Mecklenburg-Vorpommern TSG Neustrelitz Middle Rhine FC Wegberg-Beeck Rhineland SV Eintracht Trier 05 Saarland FC 08 Homburg Saxony Chemnitzer FC | Saxony-Anhalt Hallescher FC Schleswig-Holstein Holstein Kiel South Baden SC Pfullendorf Southwest SV Niederauerbach Thuringia Rot-Weiß Erfurt Westphalia Preußen Münster (CW) VfB Fichte Bielefeld Württemberg 1. FC Heidenheim 1846 |
* 1 2 3 Finalists from the three regions with the most participating teams in their league competitions were also allowed to compete.
* ↑ ASV Bergedorf 85 qualified as regional cup finalists because winners FC St. Pauli Reserves were not allowed to compete.
* ↑ The football sections of Lüneburger SK, winner of the regional cup competition, and Lüneburger SV merged to create FC Hansa Lüneburg for the 2008–09 season.
* ↑ SV Niederauerbach qualified as regional cup finalists because winners 1. FC Kaiserslautern Reserves were not allowed to compete.

## Draw

The draws for the different rounds were conducted as following: For the first round, the participating teams were split into two pots. The first pot contained all teams which have qualified through their regional cup competitions, the teams which were promoted from the Regionalligen and the bottom four teams of the Second Bundesliga. Every team from this pot was drawn to a team from the second pot, which contained all remaining professional teams. The teams from the first pot were set as the home team in the process.
The two-pot scenario was also applied for the second round, with the remaining amateur teams in the first pot and the remaining professional teams in the other pot. Once one pot was empty, the remaining pairings were drawn from the other pot with the first-drawn team for a match serving as hosts. For the remaining rounds, the draw was conducted from just one pot. Any remaining amateur team were assigned as the home team if drawn against a professional team. In every other case, the first-drawn team served as hosts.

## Matches

Times up to 25 October 2008 and from 29 March 2009 are CEST (UTC+2). Times from 26 October 2008 to 28 March 2009 are CET (UTC+1).

### First round

The draw for the first round was held on 6 July 2008. Matches were played between 7 and 10 August 2008.
Source: kicker.de (in German)

### Second round

The draw for the second round was conducted on 24 August 2008. The games were played on 23 and 24 September 2008.
Source: kicker.de (in German)

### Round of 16

The draw for the round of 16 was conducted on 5 October 2008. The games were played on 27 and 28 January 2009.
Last updated: 28 January 2009 Source: kicker.de

### Quarter-finals

The draw was conducted on 1 February 2009.

### Semi-finals

The draw was conducted on 7 March 2009.