The first round of the DFB Cup will be drawn live on Saturday evening on Sportschau. The 32 clubs from the amateur pot in particular are hoping that Deniz Aytekin will be lucky for them.
Referee Deniz Aytekin, who ended his career at the end of the season, will draw lots at the German Football Museum. The sports show will be broadcast live from Dortmund on Saturday from 6 p.m. Malte Völz will moderate.
In the first round of the DFB Cup, which is mainly scheduled for August 21st to 24th, a professional team will be drawn together with an “amateur team”. There are two draw pots with 32 teams each.
Referee Deniz Aytekin ended his career.
The professional pool includes all Bundesliga teams from last season as well as the 14 best-placed teams in the 2nd Bundesliga. Professional teams also come into the “amateur pot”, such as the teams in places 15 to 18 in the 2nd Bundesliga and the four best teams in the 3rd league.
Among the 21 state cup winners there are also a number of amateur clubs who, like SV Westfalia Rhynern, are hoping for an attractive draw as champions of the Oberliga Westfalen.
If a third division team won the national cup even though they had already qualified through their league placement, the loser in the final moved up. The regional associations with the most teams in play received the remaining three starting places.
Bayern and Dortmund only in September
Whoever has supposedly drawn the biggest draw with the double winners FC Bayern and Borussia Dortmund will play on September 1st and 2nd, but then on a very big stage during the week and in individual games without competition from other cup games.
The relocations are necessary because the Munich team will compete in the Franz Beckenbauer Supercup at BVB on August 22nd. It’s the game between champions and cup winners. Since FC Bayern also won the DFB Cup with a 3-0 win against VfB Stuttgart, the second-placed team in the Bundesliga moves up to the Supercup.
The lottery pots at a glance:
All 32 teams in the professional pot
- FC Bayern Munich (Bundesliga)
- Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga)
- RB 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 Cologne (Bundesliga)
- SV Werder Bremen (Bundesliga)
- VfL Wolfsburg (Bundesliga)
- 1. FC Heidenheim (Bundesliga)
- FC St. Pauli (Bundesliga)
- FC Schalke 04 (2nd Bundesliga)
- SV Elversberg (2nd Bundesliga)
- SC Paderborn (2nd Bundesliga)
- Hannover 96 (2nd Bundesliga)
- SV Darmstadt 98 (2nd Bundesliga)
- 1. FC Kaiserslautern (2nd Bundesliga)
- Hertha BSC (2nd Bundesliga)
- 1. FC Nuremberg (2nd Bundesliga)
- VfL Bochum (2nd Bundesliga)
- Karlsruher SC (2nd Bundesliga)
- Dynamo Dresden (2nd Bundesliga)
- Holstein Kiel (2nd Bundesliga)
- Arminia Bielefeld (2nd Bundesliga)
- 1. FC Magdeburg (2nd Bundesliga)
32 teams in the amateur pot
- Eintracht Braunschweig (2nd Bundesliga)
- SpVgg Greuther Fürth (2nd Bundesliga)
- Fortuna Düsseldorf (2nd Bundesliga)
- Prussia Münster (2nd Bundesliga)
- VfL Osnabrück (3rd league)
- FC Energie Cottbus (3rd league)
- Rot-Weiss Essen (3rd league)
- MSV Duisburg (3rd league)
- Waldhof Mannheim (winner of the Baden State Cup)
- Würzburger Kickers (runner-up Regionalliga Bavaria)
- 1860 Munich (2nd place in the Bavarian State Cup)
- VSG Altglienicke (Winner of the Berlin State Cup)
- VfB Krieschow (winner of the Brandenburg State Cup)
- SV Hemelingen (Winner of the Bremen State Cup)
- Hamburg Eimsbütteler Ballspiel Club (Winner of the Hamburg State Cup)
- SV Wehen Wiesbaden (winner of the Hesse State Cup)
- Hansa Rostock (winner of the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania State Cup)
- Viktoria Cologne (winner of the Middle Rhine State Cup)
- SC St. Tönis (2nd place in the Lower Rhine State Cup)
- Lüneburger SK Hansa (winner of the Lower Saxony State Cup – amateur competition)
- SSV Jeddeloh 2 (Winner State Cup Lower Saxony – 3rd League/Regional League)
- Eintracht Trier (Winner of the Rhineland State Cup)
- 1. FC Saarbrücken (winner of the Saarland State Cup)
- Erzgebirge Aue (winner of the Saxony State Cup)
- Hallescher FC (winner of the Saxony-Anhalt State Cup)
- 1. FC Phönix Lübeck (winner of the Schleswig-Holstein State Cup)
- Bahlinger SC (winner of the South Baden State Cup)
- TSV Schott Mainz (winner of the Southwest Regional Cup)
- Carl Zeiss Jena (Winner of the Thuringia State Cup)
- SC Verl (Winner of the Westphalia State Cup)
- SG Sonnenhof Großaspach (winner of the Württemberg State Cup)
- SV Westfalia Rhynern (champion Oberliga Westfalen)
The individual rounds at a glance:
- 1st main round: August 21st to 24th/1st and September 2, 2026
- 2nd round: October 27 and 28, 2026
- Round of 16: December 1st and 2nd, 2026
- Quarterfinals: 2nd/3rd and 9th/10th February 2027
- Semifinals: April 20 and 21, 2027
- Final: May 29, 2027 in the Olympic Stadium Berlin