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All 36 clubs in the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 from the past season automatically qualify for the DFB-Pokal for next season. The same applies to the top four clubs of the 3.Liga, bringing the total to 40 teams who qualify automatically. Alongside these clubs, all amateur clubs in Germany have the chance to reach the first round of the DFB-Pokal every year.
The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has put a spanner in the works for many lower-ranked clubs this year. Nevertheless, the 21 state associations will be represented in the DFB-Pokal by their cup winners for the coming season. Here, an overview of the teams that have qualified for the 2021/22 DFB-Pokal is given.
The first-round draw will take place this Sunday, July 4 at 18:30 CEST.
Top four teams in 3.Liga qualify automatically
n addition to all 36 clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga from the 2020/2021 season, the current champions of the 3. Liga, Dynamo Dresden, as well as the three other best-placed sides in the third tier qualify for next season’s DFB-Pokal. This season, that is FC Hansa Rostock, FC Ingolstadt 04 and TSV 1860 München.
Through cup competitions in the 21 state associations of the DFB, even a district league team can make it to the first round of the Pokal in theory. In order to reach this point, the team must be successful in the district cup, after which lower-ranked teams can qualify for their respective state cup, the winner of which then gains entry to the first round of the DFB-Pokal.
13 state cup finals or deciding matches for participation in the DFB-Pokal were played on the final day of the amateur season this year. The other state associations will determine their participants for the DFB-Pokal at a later date due to the effects of the pandemic. The DFB’s registration deadline is 1st July.
Münster and Lotte already qualified
In addition to the 21 state cup winners, three other teams complete final total of 64 clubs which participate in the DFB-Pokal. The three state associations with the largest number of members are each allowed to award an additional place in the first round for next season. Therefore in Lower Saxony, two cup competitions have been held since the 2018/2019 season. While only teams from the 3. Liga and the Regionalliga take part in the first competition (won this season by SV Meppen), all amateur teams below the Regionalliga compete in the second competition (VfL Oldenburg were drawn as the winners). Both cup winners qualify for the DFB-Pokal.
In Westphalia, in addition to the winner of the state cup, since 2015/2016 the winner of a deciding match between the champion of the Oberliga Westfalen and the best Westphalian team from the Regionalliga West also competes in the first round of the DFB-Pokal. As a result of the cancellation of the 2020/2021 season of the Oberliga Westfalen, there has been no champion. Consequently, SC Preußen Münster have automatically received the right to start in the DFB-Pokal this time, as they finished as the best Westphalian Regionalliga West side. Since SCP also qualified for the final of the Westfalenpokal, their opponents in the final Sportfreunde Lotte have also qualified for the DFB-Pokal, regardless of the outcome of the final. To ensure a balance, the Football and Athletics Association of Westphalia (FLVW) has decided that next year the champion of the Oberliga Westfalen will automatically qualify for the DFB-Pokal.
Numbers 63 and 64: Jena and Bremer SV
In Bavaria, in addition to the state cup winners – SpVgg Oberfranken Bayreuth – the Toto Pokal winners also qualified for the DFB-Pokal first round. Third tier side Türkgücü München beat FV Illerrtissen 8-7 on penalties.
On Wednesday evening (30 June), Regionalliga side FC Carl Zeiss Jena beat FC An der Fahner Höhe 4-1 after extra time, while Oberliga side Bremer SV beat local rivals Brinkumer SV 2-1, both thereby confirming their place in the DFB-Pokal.
Participating teams in the 2021/22 DFB-Pokal:
BUNDESLIGA
1.FC Köln
1.FSV Mainz 05
1.FC Union Berlin
Arminia Bielefeld
Bayer 04 Leverkusen
Borussia Dortmund
Borussia Mönchengladbach
Eintracht Frankfurt
FC Augsburg
FC Bayern München
FC Schalke 04
Hertha BSC
RB Leipzig
SC Freiburg
SV Werder Bremen
TSG Hoffenheim
VfB Stuttgart
VfL Wolfsburg
2. BUNDESLIGA
1.FC Heidenheim
1.FC Nürnberg
Eintracht Braunschweig
FC Erzgebirge Aue
FC St. Pauli
FC Würzburger Kickers
Fortuna Düsseldorf
Hamburger SV
Hannover 96
Holstein Kiel
Karlsruher SC
SC Paderborn 07
SpVgg Greuther Fürth
SSV Jahn Regensburg
SV Darmstadt 98
SV Sandhausen
VfL Bochum
VfL Osnabrück
3.LIGA
Dynamo Dresden (3. Liga champions)
FC Hansa Rostock (3. Liga runners-up)
FC Ingolstadt 04 (third in 3. Liga)
TSV 1860 München (fourth in 3. Liga)
FC Viktoria Köln (winner of the Mittelrheinpokal)
SV Waldhof Mannheim (winner of Baden-Pokal)
SV Wehen Wiesbaden (winner of Hessenpokal)
SV Meppen (winner of the Niedersachsen-Pokal for 3. Liga and Regionalliga teams)
1.FC Kaiserslautern (unanimously recommended for the 2021/22 first round by the South West football association)
1.FC Magdeburg (registered for the DFB-Pokal following an agreement between the Saxony-Anhalt football association and SV Graf Zeppelin 09 Abtsdorf e.V.)
Türkgücü München (Bavarian Toto-Pokal winners)
REGIONALLIGA
1. FC Lok Leipzig (winner of the Sachsenpokal)
BFC Dynamo (winner of the Berlin-Pokal)
SC Preußen Münster (as the best Westphalian Regionalliga West side)
Sportfreunde Lotte (as Westfalenpokal finalists against SC Preußen Münster, who have already qualified)
SSV Ulm 1846 Fußball (winner of the Württemberg-Pokal)
SV 07 Elversberg (winner of the Saarlandpokal)
SV Babelsberg 03 (winner of the Brandenburg-Pokal)
TuS Rot-Weiß Koblenz (winner of the Rheinlandpokal)
Wuppertaler SV (winner of the Niederrheinpokal)
SpVgg Oberfranken Bayreuth (Bavaria’s regional league cup winners)
FC Eintracht Nordstedt (Hamburg football association playoff winner)
SC Weiche Flensburg 08 (Schleswig Holstein Pokal winners)
Carl Zeiss Jena (Thüringen-Pokal winners)
Oberliga
VfL Oldenburg (Lower Saxony amateur cup winners, which was settled by a draw this year due to the coronavirus pandemic).
Greifswalder FC (As the Lübzer Pils Cup could not be completed, the Mecklenurg-Vorpommern state football association submitted their highest ranked club for the DFB-Pokal. Hansa Rostock were already qualified as 3. Liga runners up.)
FC 08 Villingen (Südbadischen Verbandspokal winners)
Bremer SV (Bremen state cup winners)
