# 2024–25 DFB-Pokal

The 2024–25 DFB-Pokal is the 82nd season of the annual German football cup competition. Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all teams from the previous year's Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga. The competition began on 16 August 2024 with the first of six rounds and will end on 24 May 2025 with the final at the Olympiastadion in Berlin, a nominally neutral venue, which has hosted the final since 1985. The DFB-Pokal is considered the second-most important club title in German football after the Bundesliga championship. The DFB-Pokal is run by the German Football Association (DFB).
Bayer Leverkusen are the defending champions.
The winner of the DFB-Pokal earns automatic qualification to the 2025–26 UEFA Europa League league stage. Suppose they have already qualified for the 2025–26 UEFA Champions League or Europa League through their position in the Bundesliga (no lower than sixth). In that case, the spot will go to the team in sixth, and the league's UEFA Conference League play-off round spot will go to the team in seventh. The winners will also host the 2025 edition of the DFL-Supercup at the start of the next season, and will face the champions of the 2024–25 Bundesliga.

## Participating clubs

The following teams qualified for the competition:
| Bundesliga the 18 clubs of the 2023–24 season | 2. Bundesliga the 18 clubs of the 2023–24 season | 3. Liga the top 4 clubs of the 2023–24 season |
| FC Augsburg Union Berlin VfL Bochum Werder Bremen Darmstadt 98 Borussia Dortmund Eintracht Frankfurt SC Freiburg 1. FC Heidenheim TSG Hoffenheim 1. FC Köln RB Leipzig Bayer Leverkusen Mainz 05 Borussia Mönchengladbach Bayern Munich VfB Stuttgart VfL Wolfsburg | Eintracht Braunschweig Hertha BSC Fortuna Düsseldorf SV Elversberg Greuther Fürth Hamburger SV Hannover 96 1. FC Kaiserslautern Karlsruher SC Holstein Kiel 1. FC Magdeburg 1. FC Nürnberg VfL Osnabrück SC Paderborn Hansa Rostock Schalke 04 FC St. Pauli Wehen Wiesbaden | SSV Ulm Preußen Münster Jahn Regensburg Dynamo Dresden |
| Representatives of the regional associations 24 representatives of 21 regional associations of the DFB, qualified (in general) through the 2023–24 Verbandspokal |||
| Baden SV Sandhausen Bavaria FC Ingolstadt (CW) Würzburger Kickers (RB) Berlin Viktoria Berlin Brandenburg Energie Cottbus Bremen Bremer SV Hamburg Teutonia Ottensen Hesse Kickers Offenbach | Lower Rhine Rot-Weiss Essen Lower Saxony SV Meppen (3L/RL) VfV Hildesheim (Am.) Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Greifswalder FC Middle Rhine Alemannia Aachen Rhineland TuS Koblenz Saarland 1. FC Saarbrücken Saxony Erzgebirge Aue | Saxony-Anhalt Hallescher FC Schleswig-Holstein Phönix Lübeck South Baden FC 08 Villingen Southwest Schott Mainz Thuringia Carl Zeiss Jena Westphalia Arminia Bielefeld (CW) Sportfreunde Lotte (OW) Württemberg VfR Aalen |

## Format
### Participation

The DFB-Pokal began with a round of 64 teams. The 36 teams of the Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga, along with the top four finishers of the 3. Liga automatically qualified for the tournament. Of the remaining slots, 21 were given to the cup winners of the regional football associations, the Verbandspokal. The three remaining slots were given to the three regional associations with the most men's teams, which were Bavaria, Lower Saxony and Westphalia. The best-placed amateur team of the Regionalliga Bayern was given the spot for Bavaria. For Lower Saxony, the Lower Saxony Cup was split into two paths: one for 3. Liga and Regionalliga Nord teams, and the other for amateur teams. The winners of each path qualified. For Westphalia, the spot rotated each season between the best-placed Westphalian team of the Regionalliga West and the best-placed amateur team of the Oberliga Westfalen. For the 2024–25 DFB-Pokal, this spot was awarded to a team from the Oberliga. As every team was entitled to participate in local tournaments which qualified for the association cups, every team could in principle compete in the DFB-Pokal. Reserve teams and combined football sections were not permitted to enter, along with no two teams of the same association or corporation.

### Draw

The draws for the different rounds are conducted as follows:
For the first round, the participating teams were split into two pots of 32 teams each. The first pot contained all teams which qualified through their regional cup competitions, the best four teams of the 3. Liga, and the bottom four teams of the 2. Bundesliga. Every team from this pot was drawn to a team from the second pot, which contained all remaining professional teams (all the teams of the Bundesliga and the remaining fourteen 2. Bundesliga 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 3. Liga and/or amateur team(s) in the first pot and the remaining Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga teams in the other pot. Once again, the 3. Liga and/or amateur team(s) served as hosts. This time the pots did not have to be of equal size though, depending on the results of the first round. Theoretically, it was even possible that there could be only one pot, if all of the teams from one of the pots from the first round beat all the others in the second 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 will be conducted from just one pot. Any remaining 3. Liga and/or amateur team(s) will be the home team if drawn against a professional team. In every other case, the first-drawn team will serve as hosts.

### Match rules

Teams meet in one game per round. Matches take place for 90 minutes, with two halves of 45 minutes each. If still tied after regulation, 30 minutes of extra time will be played, consisting of two periods of 15 minutes each. If the score is still level after this, the match will be decided by a penalty shoot-out. A coin toss will decide who takes the first penalty. A maximum of nine players can be listed on the substitute bench, while a maximum of five substitutions are allowed. However, each team is only given three opportunities to make substitutions, with a fourth opportunity in extra time, excluding substitutions made at half-time, before the start of extra time and at half-time in extra time. From the round of 16 onward, a video assistant referee will be appointed for all DFB-Pokal matches. Though technically possible, VAR was not used for home matches of Bundesliga clubs prior to the round of 16 in order to provide a uniform approach to all matches.

### Suspensions

If a player receives five yellow cards in the competition, he will then be suspended from the next cup match. Similarly, receiving a second yellow card suspends a player from the next cup match. If a player receives a direct red card, they will be suspended a minimum of one match, but the German Football Association reserves the right to increase the suspension.

### International qualification

The winners of the DFB-Pokal earn automatic qualification for the league phase of next season's edition of the UEFA Europa League. If they have already qualified for the UEFA Champions League through position in the Bundesliga, then the spot will go to the team in sixth place, and the league's UEFA Conference League play-off round spot will go to the team in seventh place. The winners will also host the DFL-Supercup at the start of the next season, and will face the champions of the previous year's Bundesliga, unless the same team wins the Bundesliga and the DFB-Pokal, completing a double. In that case, the runners-up of the Bundesliga will take the spot and host instead.

## Schedule

All draws will generally be held on a Sunday evening after each round (unless noted otherwise).
The rounds of the 2024–25 competition are scheduled as follows:
| Round | Draw date | Matches |
| First round | 1 June 2024 | 16–19 August & 27–28 August 2024 |
| Second round | 1 September 2024 | 29–30 October 2024 |
| Round of 16 | 3 November 2024 | 3–4 December 2024 |
| Quarter-finals | 15 December 2024 | 4–5 February & 25–26 February 2025 |
| Semi-finals | 2 March 2025 | 1–2 April 2025 |
| Final | 2 March 2025 | 24 May 2025 at Olympiastadion, Berlin |

## Matches

Times up to 27 October 2024 and from 30 March 2025 are CEST (UTC+2). Times from 28 October 2024 to 29 March 2025 are CET (UTC+1).

### First round

The draw took place on 23 June 2024, with Nils Petersen drawing the matches. Thirty of the thirty-two matches took place from 16 to 19 August 2024. The remaining two matches, involving the participants of the 2024 DFL-Supercup (played on 17 August), took place on 27 and 28 August 2024.

### Second round

The draw took place on 1 September 2024, with Sonja Greinacher drawing the matches. The matches took place on 29 and 30 October 2024.

### Round of 16

The draw took place on 3 November 2024, with André Schnura [de] and Rudi Völler drawing the matches. The matches took place on 3 and 4 December 2024.

### Quarter-finals

The draw took place on 15 December 2024, with Julian Köster drawing the matches. The matches took place between 4 and 26 February 2025.

### Semi-finals

The draw took place on 2 March 2025, with Gerald Asamoah drawing the matches. The matches will take place on 1 and 2 April 2025.

### Final

The final will take place on 24 May 2025.

## Top goalscorers

    As of 27 February 2025
The following are the top scorers of the DFB-Pokal, sorted first by number of goals, and then alphabetically if necessary. Goals scored in penalty shoot-outs are not included.
| Rank | Player | Team | Goals |
| 1 | Patrik Schick | Bayer Leverkusen | 4 |
| 2 | Maximilian Breunig | 1. FC Heidenheim | 3 |
| 2 | Hugo Ekitike | Eintracht Frankfurt | 3 |
| 2 | Samuel Essende | FC Augsburg | 3 |
| 2 | Jamal Musiala | Bayern Munich | 3 |
| 2 | Loïs Openda | RB Leipzig | 3 |
| 2 | Benjamin Šeško | RB Leipzig | 3 |
| 2 | Keke Topp | Werder Bremen | 3 |
| 2 | Nick Woltemade | VfB Stuttgart | 3 |
| 10 | 21 players | 21 players | 2 |