German Cup winners – List of DFB Pokal Champions, the all-time most successful teams in the history of the Competition.
What is the German Cup called? The German is called DFB Pokal.
Do German Cup winners qualify for Europe? Yes, the German Cup winners automatically earn a place in UEFA Europa League the following year.
What does DFB stand for German? The DFB stands for Deutscher Fußball-Bund and German Football Association in English.
DFB Pokal 2020 winners? Bayern Munich. The Bundesliga giants were crowned Champions once again even as they emerged back to back winners once again.
The German Cup of the DFB Pokal is the national cup competition in Germany and has produced notable winners in the past and present.
The DFB Pokal is a knockout Competitions organized and contested by clubs in the German Bundesliga, the Bundesliga 2 as well as other lower leagues in the country.
The German Cup is regarded as the second most important football Competitions in Germany after the Bundesliga and has received several interests as some clubs lay much emphasis as means of gaining prominence in the country.
The tournament organized by the DFB is contested by over sixty-four teams most of which are from the Bundesliga, Bundesliga 2 and 3.Liga
For the state and regional leagues, a regional cup tournament is organized and the winners of the respective region qualify for the main Competitions.
As arranged, any club who emerges as winners of the German Cup automatically earns the right to play in the UEFA Europa League as Germany’s third slots in the continental second tier showpiece.
Also, the team earns the right to play the German DFL Super Cup with the winner of the Bundesliga.
How many cups are in a German football? The number of Cups in German football is two; The DFB Pokal and the DFL Super Cup.
How many rounds are in the German Cup?
- Six Round namely
- First Round
- Second Round
- Round of 16
- Quarterfinals
- Semi-finals
- Final
In some cases where the winner of the DFB Pokal is also the winner of the Bundesliga, the second-placed team in the league is considered a place in the DFL Super Cup the following season.
In modern times, Bayern Munich has emerged as the team with most appearances in the DFL Super Cup as winners of both the league and the Cup.
Also in modern german football, Bayern Munich has won most of the Bundesliga titles, the German Cup and the DFL Super Cup.
Founded in 1935, Bayern Munich is the most successful team in the history of the German Cup with 20 titles most of which came since the start of the 21st century.
Bayern Munich has also won five out of the last 10 Bundesliga titles including two times back to back wins from 2013 and 2014 and 2019 and 2020.
1. FC Nürnberg is the first German Cup winners in its inaugural season in 1935.
About German Cup final?
This is the final between two teams that advanced to the final of the DFB Pokal Cup and the winner crowned Champions of Germany for that year.
Bayern Munich is the most successful German club from the Bundesliga to have won the DFB Pokal 20 times more than any other side in the country and the country’s top tier division.
German Cup format and how teams qualify for the country’s most celebrated trophy outside the Bundesliga
A total of sixty-four teams are selected to participate in the DFB Pokal every season with most of the team coming from Bundesliga 1 and 2.
Also, teams from the 3.Liga are selected to participate in the Competition.
The remaining slots are reserved for the respective German region cup winners.
How’s there’s an exception to participation in the DFB Pokal as compared to how other European countries accept.
Here in Germany, only professional sides or main teams are to participate in the Competition and not the non-professional sides.
Meaning, Borussia Dortmund II, Hamburger SV II are not allowed to participate be it in the regional level or lower regional cup tournaments organized by the respective Football Associations.
Unlike England where the preliminary round of the English FA Cup is contested by teams from the EFL Champions League Two and League One.
In Germany, teams from the Bundesliga are seeded alongside teams from the regional cup winners or 3.Liga winners.
The uniqueness of this format had been highly appreciated even as football followers in the county witnessed a regional cup representative eliminate a Bundesliga side in the preliminary round.
The Cup Competitions is the biggest tournament in the country where small teams cause upset for the bigger teams in the country’s first and second division.
The stadium which has been selected to host the final of Germany’s most prestigious knockout tournament is the Olympic Stadium in Berlin home to Hertha Berlin BSC.
Similar to how it is being played in England and other top footballing nation across Europe, the German Cup rules include the use of extra time if the scores remain level after normal regulation time.
Also, a penalty shootout is used to determine the winner of the tie, unlike the English FA Cup where replays are seen as the next option for clubs who fail to win their first clash at home.
Three substitutions are usually the acceptable standard, unlike English FA Cup where five substitutes are considering.
German Cup winners, the most successful DFB Pokal Champions
The Competition first Kickstarted as Tschammer-Pokal before its rebranding to the DFB-Pokal starting from the 1952–53 season won by Rot-Weiss Essen.
Bayern Munich – 20 Titles
When it comes to the German Cup winners list and the DFB Pokal, Bayern Munich is the most successful team in the country with 20 titles.
The Bundesliga giants won most of the Cup titles in the 21st century despite the club’s early dominance which includes winning the title Three times in the 1960s and the 1980s respectively.
In the modern german Cup Era, Bayern Munich has won the most titles including three times back to back triumphs in 2005 to 2006, 2013 to 2014, and 2019 to 2020.
This has an exception record held by the Bavarians who also stands as regular Champions of the Bundesliga, both of which has culminated Bayern Munich into becoming the most successful team in the history of German football.
In 2019, the Bavarians faced an entirely new team outside the usual Borussia Dortmund, Werder Bremen, Schalke 04, etc.
As they were up against newcomers RB Leipzig zoomed into its first-ever final as a club.
Leipzig however qualified for its second DFB Pokal final to face Borussia Dortmund in the 2021 German Cup final clash expected to take place at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin.
Looking back at the stats and history surrounding the Competition, Bayern Munich dominated every aspect of it without having major problems in the process of achieving it.
Despite these stats, Bayern has also lost three times in the finals with the recent loss in the 2017–18 season, losing to Eintracht Frankfurt.
Most of the club’s German Cup wins were achieved in the DFB Pokal era as the club could not win a single trophy in the Tschammer-Pokal era.
20 DFB Pokal Champions (a record)
1957, 1966, 1967, 1969, 1971, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2019, 2020.
Werder Bremen – 6 Titles
The heroics on the part of SV Werder Bremen cannot be forgotten in the long run, although most of the club’s success came through in the 90s.
But that being said, SV Werder Bremen is the second most successful team in the history of the German Cup winners list with six titles.
The club won its first title in 1961.
It was a memorable outing for Werder Bremen most especially in the 1990s where it won three trophies from 1991, 1994, 1999.
The last time SV Werder Bremen had its hands on the DFB Pokal was in 2009 when they overcame Bayer Leverkusen in a 1-0 win in the final held at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin.
Werder Bremen boost a total of six German Cup titles behind Bayern Munich as the second most successful in the Competition.
Schalke 04 – 5 Titles
In the whole of Germany, Schalke 04 made history by becoming the first club to win the double. That is the Bundle and the DFB Pokal in the same year.
Schalke 04 also won back to back titles between 2001 and 2002.
The last time Schalke 04 won the German Cup was in 2011 in a memorable final as the Royal Blues hammered MSV Duisburg to add its fifth title.
Schalke have also held the record as the team with most final losses in the DFB Pokal with a total of seven finals.
Eintracht Frankfurt – 5 Titles
Eintracht Frankfurt is also a household name when it comes to the second most prestigious competition in the country, winning a total of five.
Achieving its first title in 1974, Eintracht Frankfurt did so by making it back to back wins by winning the following tournament of the following season.
The last time Eintracht Frankfurt became Champions of Germany was in 2018, beating giants Bayern Munich in the final.
Frankfurt also lost three finals.
FC Köln – 4 Titles
1. FC Köln or FC Cologne is the fifth on the all-time winner’s list with four trophies.
FC Köln enjoyed most of its trophies in the 20th century and have failed to do so since the start of the 21st century.
Borussia Dortmund – Titles
Borussia Dortmund remains one of the top sides that have made it frequently in the list of potential Champions of the competition.
Although the reverse seems to be the case for the Yellow Wall. Dortmund has only managed to win four German Cup (DFB Pokal) in its history.
Two of which were achieved in the 20th century came in the 21st century.
Dortmund won it in 2012, waited for another five years in 2017, beating Eintracht Frankfurt in the final.
FC Nürnberg – 4 Titles
FC Nürnberg became the first club in the country to lift the German Cup in its inaugural season in 1935.
The last time Nürnberg won the trophy was in 2007 when they defeated VfB Stuttgart in the final.
Other notable teams that have won the German Cup are
VfB Stuttgart – 3 Titles
Hamburger SV – 1 Title
Borussia Mönchengladbach – 3 Titles
Fortuna Düsseldorf – 2 Titles
1. FC Kaiserslautern – 2 Titles
Karlsruher SC – 2 Titles
Dresdner SC – 2 Titles
1860 Munich – 2 Titles
Note: During the Tschammer-Pokal era, two Austrian football clubs First Vienna and Rapid Wien won the German Cup after which the clubs were inducted into the Austrian football System after the formation.
2021 final will be between Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig.
German Cup winners – DFB Pokal Champions in full
2020-21?
2019–20 Bayern Munich
2018–19 Bayern Munich
2017–18 Eintracht Frankfurt
2016–17 Borussia Dortmund
2015–16 Bayern Munich
2014–15 VfL Wolfsburg
2013–14 Bayern Munich
2012–13 Bayern Munich
2011–12 Borussia Dortmund
2010–11 Schalke 04
2009–10 Bayern Munich
2008–09 SV Werder Bremen
2007–08 Bayern Munich
2006–07 1. FC Nürnberg
2005–06 Bayern Munich
2004–05 Bayern Munich
2003–04 SV Werder Bremen
2002–03 Bayern Munich
2001–02 Schalke 04
2000–01 Schalke 04
1999–2000 Bayern Munich
1998–99 SV Werder Bremen
1997–98 Bayern Munich
1996–97 VfB Stuttgart
1995–96 1. FC Kaiserslautern
1994–95 Borussia Mönchengladbach
1993–94 SV Werder Bremen
1992–93 Bayer Leverkusen
1991–92 Hannover 96
1990–91 SV Werder Bremen
1989–90 1. FC Kaiserslautern
1988–89 Borussia Dortmund
1987–88 Eintracht Frankfurt
1986–87 Hamburger SV
1985–86 Bayern Munich
1984–85 Bayer Uerdingen
1983–84 Bayern Munich
1982–83 1. FC Köln
1981–82 Bayern Munich
1980–81 Eintracht Frankfurt
1979–80 Fortuna Düsseldorf
1978–79 Fortuna Düsseldorf
1977–78 1. FC Köln
1976–77 1. FC Köln
1975–76 Hamburger SV
1974–75 Eintracht Frankfurt
1973–74 Eintracht Frankfurt
1972–73 Borussia Mönchengladbach
1971–72 Schalke 04
1970–71 Bayern Munich
1969–70 Kickers Offenbach
1968–69 Bayern Munich
1967–68 1. FC Köln
1966–67 Bayern Munich
1965–66 Bayern Munich
1964–65 Borussia Dortmund
1963–64 1860 Munich
1962–63 Hamburger SV
1961–62 1. FC Nürnberg
1960–61 SV Werder Bremen
1959–60 Borussia Mönchengladbach
1958–59 Schwarz-Weiss Essen
1957–58 VfB Stuttgart
1956–57 Bayern Munich
1955–56 Karlsruher SC
1954–55 Karlsruher SC
1953–54 VfB Stuttgart
1952–53 Rot-Weiss Essen
1943 First Vienna
1942 1860 Munich
1941 Dresdner SC
1940 Dresdner SC
1939 1. FC Nürnberg
1938 Rapid Wien
1937 Schalke 04
1936 VfB Leipzig
1935 1. FC Nürnberg
About the DFB Pokal
The German Cup is an annual knockout cup competition organized by the DFB for teams participating in the Bundesliga, Bundesliga 2, 3.Liga and regional cup winners.
The total number of teams in the DFB Pokal are 64 teams from the aforementioned leagues.
The winner is crowned Champions of Germany for that year and qualifies for the UEFA Europa League for the following season.
Since the establishment of the German Cup, a total of twenty five different teams have won it.
The major winners in the list of Champions includes Bayern Munich with twenty titles followed by SV Werder Bremen with six while Schalke 04 and Eintracht Frankfurt are joint third and fourth with five titles respectively.
The competition have also featured winners from Austria with First Vienna and Rapid Wien as Champions in the early years of German Cup
The DFB Pokal is the major Cup competition in Germany followed by the DFL Super Cup.
Conclusion
This article highlights the German Cup winners, list of DFB Pokal Champions and all-time most successful in the history of the Competition.
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