DFB-Pokal

Current season or competition: 2011–12 DFB-Pokal
144px
Formerly	Tschammerpokal
Sport	Football
Founded	1934
No. of teams	64
Country(ies)	Germany
Most recent champion(s)	Borussia Dortmund (3rd title)
Most titles	Bayern Munich (15 titles)

The DFB-Pokal (IPA: [ˈdeː.ɛf.beː poˈkaːl]) or DFB Cup is a German knockout football cup competition held annually. 64 teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2nd Bundesliga. It is considered the second most important national title in German football after the Bundesliga championship.

The competition was founded in 1935, then called Tschammer-Pokal. The first titleholder were FC Nuremberg. In 1937 Schalke were the first team to win the double. The Tschammer-Pokal was suspended in 1945 due to World War II and disbanded with the demise of Nazi-Germany. In 1952–53 the cup was reinstated as the DFB-Pokal, named after the German Football Association (Deutscher Fußballbund or DFB) and was won by Rot-Weiss Essen. Bayern Munich have won the most titles, with 15 wins. The most recent winners are Borussia Dortmund.

The trophy

Format[link]

The competition format has varied considerably since the inception of the Tschammer-Pokal in 1935.

Participation[link]

The DFB-Pokal begins with a round of 64 teams. The 36 teams of the Bundesliga and 2nd Bundesliga, along with the top four finishers of the 3rd Liga are automatically qualified for the tournament. Of the remaining slots 21 are given to the cup winners of the regional football associations. The three remaining slots are given to the three regional associations with the most men's teams. They may assign the slot as they see fit but usually give it to the runner up in the association cup. As every team is entitled to participate in local tournaments which qualify for the association cups every team can in principle compete in the DFB-Pokal. Reserve teams like Bayern Munich II are not permitted to enter.^[1]

Seeding[link]

The pairings for the DFB Cup are not entirely random as the teams are split into two pots of 32 teams each. One pot contains all the amateur teams including teams from the 3rd Liga and the teams just being promoted to the 2nd Bundesliga. The other pot contains the teams from the Bundesliga and the teams of the 2nd Bundesliga, which have not just being promoted. Therefore in the first round of the cup each professional team plays an amateur team. Since 1982 the amateur generally plays at home when facing a professional team.

For the second round the teams are again divided into two pots according to the same principles. This time the pots don't have to be of equal size though, depending on the results of the first round. Amateur teams get paired with professional teams until one pot is empty. The remaining teams are then drawn from the nonempty pot with the team first drawn playing at home.

For the remaining rounds other than the final the teams are drawn from one pot. Since 1985 the final is every year held in the Olympic Stadium in Berlin.^[1]

Match Rules[link]

Extra time will be played if the scores are level after 90 minutes with a penalty shootout following if needed.^[1]

History[link]

Historically the number of participants in the main tournament has varied between four from 1956 until 1960 and 128 from 1973 through 1982 resulting in tournaments of two to seven rounds. Since the inception of the Bundesliga in 1963 all clubs from the Bundesliga are automatically qualified for the DFB-Pokal as are all clubs from the 2nd Bundesliga since its inception in 1974. Reserve sides have for most of the time been allowed to participate in the DFB-Pokal but are excluded since 2008.

The final has been held at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin every season since 1985. Before 1985 the host of the final was determined on short notice. In the decision, the German Football Association took into consideration the ease with which supporters of both finalists could reach the site.^{[citation needed]}

Originally the cup games were held over two times 45 minutes with two times 15 minutes extra time in case of a draw. If the score was still level after 120 minutes the game was replayed with the home field right reversed. In the 1939 Tschammer-Pokal the semi-final between SV Waldhof Mannheim and Wacker Wien was a draw three times before the game was decided by lot. The German Football Association decided to hold a penalty shootout if the replay was another draw after a similar situation arose in the 1970 cup, when the match between Alemannia Aachen and SV Werder Bremen had to be decided by lot after two draws.

In 1971–72 and 1972–73 the matches were held over two legs. The second leg was extended by two times 15 minutes if the aggregate was a draw after both legs. In case the extension brought no decision a penalty shootout was held.

When in 1977 the final 1. FC Köln vs. Hertha BSC had to be replayed this led to great logistic difficulties. In the aftermath the DFB decided not to let cup finals to be replayed in the future instead holding a penalty shootout after extra time. Eventually this change was extended to all cup games in 1991.

International Qualification[link]

Since 1960 the winner of the DFB-Pokal qualified for the European Cup Winners Cup. If the Cup winner qualified for the European Club Champions Cup, the losing finalist moved into the European Cup Winners Cup.

After the season 1998–99 the winner of the DFB-Pokal moved into next season's UEFA Europa League (called the UEFA Cup until 2009). If the winner qualifies through the Bundesliga for the Champions League, the losing finalist gets the spot. If both finalists qualify for the Champions League, the best placed team of the Bundesliga which is not already qualified for at least the Europa League gets the spot.^[2]

Tschammerpokal[link]

The first German cup was held in 1935. It was then called von Tschammer und Osten Pokal, or short Tschammerpokal, named after Reichssportführer (Sports Chief of the Reich) Hans von Tschammer und Osten. The first final was contested between the two most successful clubs of that era, the 1. FC Nuremberg and Schalke 04, with Nuremberg winning 2 – 0.^[3] After the last Tschammerpokal was held in 1943 the cup was not held for almost 10 years, being re-introduced by the German Football Association in 1952 under its current name DFB-Pokal. In 1965 the original trophy, Goldfasanen-Pokal, was substituted by the trophy which is still awarded today, because the original reminded DFB President Peco Bauwens of the Nazi era.^[4]

Giant killing[link]

Originally, the DFB-Pokal was a competition open to clubs from the top divisions of German football only. This continued after the establishment of the Fußball-Bundesliga in 1963. Semi-professional and amateur clubs could only enter the competition from 1974 onwards, when it was enlarged. Up until 2008, only the top two divisions of German football, the Bundesliga and 2nd Fußball-Bundesliga, were fully professional but from 2008, with the establishment of the 3rd Liga, the third tier also became fully professional.

From the start, the new match ups Bundesliga versus amateurs, most usually third division clubs, became a source of surprises. Often titled the "mother of all cup sensations" (German: Die Mutter aller Pokalsensationen),^[5][6] was Hamburger SV's second round loss to VfB Eppingen in 1974, the first instance of an amateur side knocking out a Bundesliga club. It took until 1990 for a fourth division side to achieve the same, when SpVgg Fürth took Borussia Dortmund out of the competition. Further milestones were the reserve side of Hertha BSC, Hertha BSC II, reaching the cup final in 1993, a first for a third division club and a reserve team. In 1997 Eintracht Trier proved too strong for both the UEFA-Cup and Champions League winner, knocking FC Schalke 04 and Borussia Dortmund out of the competition. In 2000, the 1. FC Magdeburg became the first fourth division side to eliminate two Bundesliga clubs in one season.^[7]

Surprise results in the cup attract a strong media covarage in Germany and, at times, abroad. When TSV Vestenbergsgreuth took out FC Bayern Munich, coached by Giovanni Trapattoni at the time, La Gazzetta dello Sport reported on its front page "Club di dilettanti elimina Trapattoni".^[7]

Records[link]

Having won 15 titles, Bayern Munich has been the most successful team in the cup since they won their fourth title in 1969. Fortuna Düsseldorf established a record for consecutive German Cup match victories (18 straight victories between 1978 and 1981, taking the trophy in 1979 and 1980). Schalke 04 holds the record for the biggest win in a DFB-Pokal final. They won 5–0 against Kaiserslautern in 1972 and 5–0 against Duisburg in 2011.

Finals[link]

Tschammer-Pokal[link]

DFB-Pokal[link]

Performance by club[link]

East German Cup (1949–91)[link]

East Germany also had its own national cup: the FDGB Cup, the cup of the Freie Deutsche Gewerkschaftsbund, the association of the East German trade unions. It was introduced in 1949 and awarded annually until 1991 after German reunification in 1990 led to the merger of the football leagues of the two Germanys.

Women's German Cup[link]

Since 1981 women's football clubs have competed for the Women's DFB Cup. An East German women's cup was also held from 1987 to 1991.

Media coverage[link]

In Australia the DFB-Pokal was broadcast by Setanta Sports until the 2009–10 season.

References[link]

External links[link]

• DFB Pokal German Cup page from DFB (German)
• DFB Pokal German Cup page from DFB (English)

Jürgen Norbert 'Kloppo' Klopp^[1] (born 16 June 1967) is a German former footballer and the current manager of Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga.

Player career[link]

Klopp played his entire senior career for 1. FSV Mainz 05 from 1990 to 2001. He originally played as a striker, before switching to play as a defender in 1995.^[2]

Managing career[link]

Mainz 05[link]

Upon his retirement from playing for Mainz 05, Klopp was appointed as the club's manager. He remained as manager for seven years, during which time he led the team to its first appearance in the Bundesliga, and qualification for the 2005–06 UEFA Cup. At the end of the 2006–07 season, Mainz 05 were relegated, but Klopp chose to remain with the club. However, due to the fact that they were not able to achieve promotion, he resigned at the end of the 2007–08 season.

Borussia Dortmund[link]

In May 2008, Klopp was approached to become the new manager of Borussia Dortmund, eventually signing a two-year contract at the club, which had finished in a disappointing 13th place under previous manager Thomas Doll. In his first season in charge, Klopp guided Borussia Dortmund to win the DFB-Supercup, defeating German champions Bayern Munich.^[3] Klopp took the club to a sixth place finish in his first season in charge, and a fifth place finish in the season after that, before leading the club to successive Bundesliga titles in the 2010–11 and 2011–12 seasons.^[4][5] During the 2011-2012 season, the 81 points accrued by Borussia Dortmund was the greatest points tally ever amassed in Bundesliga history and the 47 points earned in the second half of the season also set a new record. Borussia Dortmund's 25 league wins equalled Bayern Munich's 1972/73 milestone while their 28-league match unbeaten sequence was the best ever recorded in a single German top-flight season.^[6] On 12 May 2012, Klopp made Borussia Dortmund history by sealing the club's first ever domestic double, by defeating Bayern Munich 5–2 to win the DFB-Pokal. Klopp described the double as being "better than (he) could have imagined".^[7][8][9]

Media career[link]

From 2005, Klopp appeared as a regular pundit on the German television network ZDF, giving his views on games of Germany national football team. His term ended after UEFA Euro 2008. He was succeeded by Oliver Kahn. During the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, he worked with RTL alongside Günther Jauch. On 20 October 2006, he received the Deutscher Fernsehpreis in the category of best sports show.

Personal life[link]

Klopp is currently married for the second time. He has one son Marc Klopp, who plays for Borussia Dortmund II. Since 2009, Klopp has been living in Herdecke, where many Borussia Dortmund players also live.

Managerial statistics[link]

As of 14 May 2012.

GF – Goals For; GA – Goals Against.

Honours[link]

As a manager[link]

1. FSV Mainz 05

• 2. Fußball-Bundesliga (1): 2003–04

Borussia Dortmund

• Fußball-Bundesliga (2): 2010–11, 2011–12
• DFB-Pokal (1): 2011–12
• DFL-Supercup (1): 2008

As an individual[link]

• German Football Manager of the Year (2): 2011, 2012

References[link]

External links[link]

• Jürgen Klopp on Playerhistory.com
• Goal.com profile
• Jürgen Klopp at transfermarkt.de (German)