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DFB Pokal: the draw for the first round takes place on Saturday

The draw for the first round of the DFB Pokal will take place on Saturday evening (18:00 CEST/ARD) at the German Football Museum in Dortmund. The balls will be drawn by referee Deniz Aytekin, who retired at the end of the season. The 32 matches of the first round will mainly be played between 21 and 24 August 2025. Due to their participation in the Franz Beckenbauer Super Cup (22 August), Borussia Dortmund will play in the first round of the DFB Pokal on 1 or 2 September.

A total of 64 teams have qualified for the first main round. All 18 Bundesliga clubs, along with the top 14 teams from last season’s 2. Bundesliga, are in the first pot; the other teams are in the amateur pot (positions 15 to 18 in the 2. Bundesliga, positions one to four in the 3. Liga, and 24 representatives from the regional associations). First, a ball is drawn from the amateur pot, followed by one from the first draw pot. The team drawn first has home advantage.

All 32 teams in the professional pot:

Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga)
FC Bayern Munich (Bundesliga)
Leipzig (Bundesliga)
VfB Stuttgart (Bundesliga)
TSG Hoffenheim (Bundesliga)
Bayer 04 Leverkusen (Bundesliga)
SC Freiburg (Bundesliga)
Eintracht Frankfurt (Bundesliga)
FC Augsburg (Bundesliga)
1. FSV Mainz 05 (Bundesliga)
1. FC Union Berlin (Bundesliga)
Borussia Mönchengladbach (Bundesliga)
Hamburger SV (Bundesliga)
1. FC Köln (Bundesliga)
SV Werder Bremen (Bundesliga)
VfL Wolfsburg (Bundesliga)
1. FC Heidenheim (Bundesliga)
FC St. Pauli (Bundesliga)
FC Schalke 04 (2. Bundesliga)
SV Elversberg (2. Bundesliga)
SC Paderborn (2. Bundesliga)
Hannover 96 (2. Bundesliga)
SV Darmstadt 98 (2. Bundesliga)
1. FC Kaiserslautern (2. Bundesliga)
Hertha BSC (2. Bundesliga)
1. FC Nürnberg (2. Bundesliga)
VfL Bochum (2. Bundesliga)
Karlsruher SC (2. Bundesliga)
Dynamo Dresden (2. Bundesliga)
Holstein Kiel (2. Bundesliga)
Arminia Bielefeld (2. Bundesliga)
1. FC Magdeburg (2. Bundesliga)

32 teams in the amateur pot

Eintracht Braunschweig (2. Bundesliga)
SpVgg Greuther Fürth (2. Bundesliga)
Fortuna Düsseldorf (2. Bundesliga)
Preußen Münster (2. Bundesliga)
VfL Osnabrück (3. Liga)
FC Energie Cottbus (3. Liga)
Rot-Weiss Essen (3. Liga)
MSV Duisburg (3. Liga)
Waldhof Mannheim (Baden State Cup winners)
Würzburger Kickers (Runners up in the Bavarian Regional League)
1860 München (Runners up in the Bavarian State Cup)
VSG Altglienicke (Berlin State Cup winners)
VfB Krieschow (Brandenburg State Cup winners)
SV Hemelingen (Bremen State Cup winners)
Hamburg Eimsbütteler Ballspiel Club (Hamburg State Cup winners)
SV Wehen Wiesbaden (Hesse State Cup winners)
Hansa Rostock (Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania State Cup winners)
Viktoria Köln (Middle Rhine State Cup winners)
SC St. Tönis (Runners up in the Lower Rhine State Cup)
Lüneburger SK Hansa (Winners of the Lower Saxony State Cup – Amateur Competition)
SSV Jeddeloh 2 (Winners of the Lower Saxony State Cup – 3rd Division/Regional League)
Eintracht Trier (Rhineland State Cup winners)
1. FC Saarbrücken (Saarland State Cup winners)
Erzgebirge Aue (Saxony State Cup winners)
Hallescher FC (Saxony-Anhalt State Cup winners)
1. FC Phönix Lübeck (Schleswig-Holstein State Cup winners)
Bahlinger SC (South Baden State Cup winners)
TSV Schott Mainz (South-West State Cup winners)
Carl Zeiss Jena (Thuringia State Cup winners)
SC Verl (Westphalia State Cup winners)
SG Sonnenhof Großaspach (Württemberg State Cup winners)
SV Westfalia Rhynern (Oberliga Westfalen winners)

An overview of the dates:

First round: 21 to 24 August/1 and 2 September 2026
Second round: 27 and 28 October 2026
Round of 16: 1 and 2 December 2026
Quarter-finals: 2/3 and 9/10 February 2027
Semi-finals: 20 and 21 April 2027
Final: 29 May 2027 at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin

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