Winter champions FC St. Pauli started the second half of their season on Saturday as league leaders and defended top spot in the table despite drawing 2-2 with Erzgebirge Aue. They currently have a four-point lead over third place, the promotion play-off spot. The info and facts on our DFB-Pokal opponents.

The team of 2021

FC St. Pauli picked up 75 points in the last calendar year – more than any other second-tier club – and rose all the way from 18th to first. However, they were not able to win their last two games before the turn of the year or their opening game of 2022 (two draws and one defeat).

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Unbeaten at home!

FC St. Pauli are the only one of Germany's 56 professional clubs across tiers 1 to 3 that won every single home game in the first half of the season. They only managed a 2-2 draw against Aue thanks to a late leveller, which ended their winning run, but they remain unbeaten at the Millerntor.

Narrowly into the last 16

FC St. Pauli have progressed through the first and second rounds of this season's cup thanks to away wins over 1. FC Magdeburg and Dynamo Dresden. Guido Burgstaller (2) and Jakov Medic scored the goals in the 3-2 win in Saxony-Anhalt. The game in Dresden was won by the same scoreline. St. Pauli twice saw their lead cancelled out in that game but ultimately ran out winners thanks to Christopher Buchtmann's strike in the 101st minute. The first two goals were scored by Leart Paqarada and Maximilian Dittgen.

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One cup semi-final appearance

The Kiezkicker have not made it beyond the second round in the past 15 years. Reaching the last 16 is their biggest success in the competition since 2005/2006, when they almost pulled off a major shock. A Regionalliga club at the time (third tier), they beat the likes of Burghausen, Bochum, Hertha Berlin and Bremen to set up a semi-final meeting with Bayern Munich. But their hopes were dashed in the 84th minute when Claudio Pizarro scored the second for Munich in an eventual 3-0 win. Overall, FC St. Pauli have reached the quarter-finals of the DFB-Pokal four times in their history.

Two wins against BVB

This will be Borussia Dortmund's 23rd meeting with FC St. Pauli in total and their second in the DFB-Pokal. BVB won 3-0 away from home in October 2014, with the first half in particular a clear illustration of the difference in class as the Black & Yellows surged into a 2-0 lead by half-time thanks to goals from Ciro Immobile (33) and Marco Reus (44). Borussia dropped down a gear in the second period and allowed St. Pauli to have more of the game but still comfortably saw out the victory, with Shinji Kagawa rounding off the scoring with four minutes remaining. It was the last of the 21 previous competitive meetings between the clubs. Borussia Dortmund have won on 15 occasions, while FC St. Pauli have been victorious only twice. Both of those defeats came more than 30 years ago. BVB lost 1-0 at the Millerntor due to André Golke's winner on 22 October 1988, before losing 2-1 the following season. Golke again found the net, after Andreas Möller had opened the scoring for BVB. Dirk Zander then scored the winner for FC St. Pauli in the 89th minute.

33rd place in the all-time Bundesliga table

Fifty-six clubs have previously played in the Bundesliga. FC St. Pauli have eight top-flight seasons to their name and have won 58 games in total. With 254 points, the Hamburg club occupy 33rd place in the all-time table and are thus ahead of two current top tier sides: 1. FC Union Berlin (40th place) and Greuther Fürth (53rd).

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Reunion with two former players

Midfielders Christopher Buchtmann (pictured / from July 2005 to December 2007) and Rico Benatelli (2008 to 2013) both played for the Black & Yellows at youth or U23 level. Benatelli played 26 games for BVB in the Regionalliga and third tier between 2011 and 2013. Both players now play key roles for FC St. Pauli.
Compiled by Boris Rupert