Four second division teams are represented in the quarter-finals of the DFB Cup, many Bundesliga teams who are used to success are already out.
As is well known, the DFB Cup has its own rules, and one paragraph states that FC Bayern often wins. If he doesn’t do that, Borussia Dortmund or RB Leipzig will do it. Eintracht Frankfurt took advantage of a loophole in the law in 2018, and VfL Wolfsburg did so three years earlier.
Perhaps FC St. Pauli will win the cup this season without their success in the final being seen as a sensation or a loophole in the law. Because theoretically he could meet 1. FC Kaiserslautern in the Olympic Stadium on May 25th.
“It has rarely been so easy to get to the final”
In any case, anarchy has broken out in the DFB Cup. In the quarter-finals, the 2nd division makes up half of the participants, plus a third division team, 1. FC Saarbrücken. The Bundesliga is represented by three clubs, and as the current league leaders Bayer Leverkusen face third-placed VfB Stuttgart, even a player from 1. FC Kaiserslautern dares to say what the club’s fans, just like those of St. Pauli, Fortuna Düsseldorf and Hertha BSC, think.
“It has rarely been so easy to get to the final”said Kaiserslautern midfielder Marlon Ritter, and in order to maintain form, he pushed forward: “I don’t want to offend any team, but there are already big names coming out.”
Leverkusen or Stuttgart will follow, and in a home game against the third Bundesliga club Borussia Mönchengladbach, which has to play in the quarter-finals in Saarbrücken, every second division team should have a decent chance in a semi-final.
Düsseldorf wants reparation and “exorbitant sum”
“I’m incredibly excited”said Fortuna Düsseldorf coach Daniel Thioune before the duel with FC St. Pauli, which begins the quarter-finals spread over four dates in Hamburg on Tuesday (January 30, 2024).
It’s a quick reunion, because the teams met in Düsseldorf on Saturday before, St. Pauli won 2-1 in an attractive top game. “We want to flip the switch now. My players will do everything to ensure that Fortuna can reach a DFB Cup semi-final again after 28 years.”said Thioune at the press conference.
Christian Weber also took part. The Düsseldorf sports director was asked about the significance of the bonus, which amounts to 3,449,600 euros for reaching the semi-finals. Weber spoke of one “exorbitantly high sum” for a second division team.
“Everyone knows that Kay Bernstein had the dream”
For reasons of piety, the question of money is currently forbidden at Hertha BSC. The people of Berlin – and with them the football fans in Germany – are mourning the loss of their president Kay Bernstein, who died in mid-January at the age of just 43.
“Everyone knows that the club has a dream, that the fans have a dream, that Kay had a dream”said Hertha’s captain Toni Leistner. Since 1985, the cup final has been held in the Olympic Stadium. The Hertha professional team has never reached it since then.
The Berlin second team, then in the third-tier regional league, made it in 1993 – and lost to Bayer Leverkusen, the club that will not win this year if their own laws apply again.