AUDIO: Holstein Kiel welcomes Stuttgart in the cup quarter-finals (1 min)
Quarterfinals
As of: February 4, 2026 8:00 a.m
Holstein Kiel can move into the semi-finals of the DFB Cup again today after 2021. Against defending champions VfB Stuttgart, KSV has to defy the temperatures and leave behind the frustration of a bumpy season in the second division so far.
What was intended as a service for the spectators of the quarter-finals this evening in the Holstein Stadium (8.45 p.m., in the NDR Livecenter) could – if you put it in a sporting sense – also have been seen as a declaration of war to the guests of the Bundesliga club VfB Stuttgart. “There’s a stiff breeze blowing up here,” said a KSV spokesman on Tuesday before the game.
And in fact, almost as if he wanted to fill a bingo card, he also asked to “dress warmly”. However, since he added that he meant the Schleswig-Holsteiners and Swabians in the stands and not the players on the pitch, any possible misunderstandings in this regard should be cleared up.
Cup as a change from Kiel’s league worries
An overly grandiose announcement towards the defending champions before the game for a place in the cup semi-finals would certainly have been a bit bold given KSV’s season so far. This was made clear not least by the recent league defeat last Saturday against bottom-placed Fürth (1:2). Holstein is only four points ahead of the relegation zone in Uterhaus and, after the defeat in the direct duel, is only five points ahead of the bottom team from Franconia.
For Kiel, who are threatened with relegation, the cup game is a welcome change from the less than pleasant day-to-day league routine – just as the games in the previous two rounds had been. There the “Storks” knocked Bundesliga clubs VfL Wolfsburg (1-0) and HSV (on penalties) out of the competition one after the other.
“It’s a different setting again. It’s in the evening, it’s live on TV.”
KSV coach Marcel Rapp
The “Storks” most recently reached the cup semi-finals in 2021. The club only failed at the hands of Borussia Dortmund after the team had sensationally thrown out FC Bayern Munich under coach Ole Werner in the cup season.
Even knowing that there is a chance of a repeat of the previous run, captain Steven Skrzybski is “simply happy when it gets started and I would be even more happy if it is successful. That’s what every footballer is passionate about. A game like that. Floodlights. Cup. That’s what you became a footballer for as a child and what you were looking forward to.” His coach Marcel Rapp also emphasized the special setting: “It’s a different setting again. It’s in the evening, it’s live on TV.”
Rapp sees no advantage for KSV in cold conditions
And, as the speaker said, it will be bitterly cold. The announced temperatures of minus five to minus seven degrees could feel like double-digit minus temperatures “up here”.
“If you’re being completely honest, there’s not much going for us.”
Marcel Rapp
It almost sounds like a freezer, although Rapp sees no advantage for his team in the weather conditions. Basically, he believes “that the boys don’t care whether it’s minus three, minus eight degrees or minus ten,” said the 46-year-old: “Of course it’s disgusting to play. But it’s a special game for us, but also for VfB.” So it will also depend on who is better at lighting the fire in the Holstein Stadium freezer on Wednesday evening.
Possible lineups
Holstein Kiel: Weiner – Nekic, Zec, Ivezic, Tolkin – Meffert, Tohumcu – Skrzybski, Kelati – Kapralik, Jakupovic
VfB Stuttgart: Nübel – Assignon, Jeltsch, Chabot, Mittelstädt – Karazor, Stiller – El Khannouss, Undav, Leweling – Demirovic
