The 2015 DFB-Pokal Final decided the winner of the
2014–15 DFB-Pokal, the 72nd season of Germany's premier football cup. It was played on 30 May 2015 at the
Olympiastadion in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...
.
Borussia Dortmund
Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional fo ...
, runners-up in
the previous final, faced
VfL Wolfsburg, who won the game 3–1 to capture their first title, with all four goals in the first half.
As winners, Wolfsburg played against
Bayern Munich
Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...
, champions of the
2014–15 Bundesliga
The 2014–15 Bundesliga was the 52nd season of the Bundesliga, Germany's premier football competition. The season started on 22 August 2014 and the final matchday took place on 23 May 2015. Bayern Munich won their 25th German title on 26 Apri ...
, in the
2015 DFL-Supercup
The 2015 DFL-Supercup was the sixth edition of the German Super Cup under the name DFL-Supercup, an annual football match contested by the winners of the previous season's Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal competitions. It featured Bayern Munich, the wi ...
, winning in a penalty shoot-out. Wolfsburg also would have qualified for the group stage of the
2015–16 UEFA Europa League
The 2015–16 UEFA Europa League was the 45th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the seventh season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League.
The 2016 UEFA Europa League Final w ...
, although they had already qualified for the
2015–16 UEFA Champions League via their league position. Because of this, the sixth-placed team in the Bundesliga,
Schalke 04, earned automatic qualification for the group stage of next year's edition of the
UEFA Europa League
The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...
, and the league's third qualifying round spot went to the team in seventh, Borussia Dortmund; this was the first season in which the cup runners-up would not have qualified for the Europa League if the cup winner had qualified for the
Champions League via their league position.
Background
It was Dortmund's seventh final and they have a record of three victories (most recently against Bayern
in 2012) and three defeats (most recently against the same opponents two years later). Wolfsburg's only prior appearance was
in 1995, losing 0–3 to
Borussia Mönchengladbach
Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e. V. Mönchengladbach, commonly known as Borussia Mönchengladbach (), Mönchengladbach () or Gladbach (; abbreviated as Borussia MG, BMG), is a professional football club based in Mönchengladbach, Nort ...
. Wolfsburg midfielder
Junior Malanda
Bernard Malanda-Adje (28 August 1994 – 10 January 2015), nicknamed Junior Malanda, was a Belgian professional footballer who last played for German club VfL Wolfsburg as a defensive midfielder.
He was a youth team player at Brussels, Anderlec ...
died in a car accident in January 2015. In his honour, they wore shirts with his squad number 19 within a heart.
The game was Dortmund manager
Jürgen Klopp's final match, after seven years in charge of the team.
[
]
Route to the final
The DFB-Pokal began with 64 teams in a single-elimination
A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final mat ...
knockout cup competition. There were a total of five rounds leading up to the final. Teams were drawn against each other, and the winner after 90 minutes would advance. If still tied, 30 minutes of extra time
Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only ...
was played. If the score was still level, a penalty shoot-out was used to determine the winner.
''Note: In all results below, the score of the finalist is given first (H: home; A: away).''
Borussia Dortmund
Borussia Dortmund, of the Bundesliga
The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footb ...
, started the tournament in the first round on 17 August 2014, playing away at 3. Liga club Stuttgarter Kickers, and winning 4–1 with goals by Henrikh Mkhitaryan
Henrikh Mkhitaryan ( hy, Հենրիխ Մխիթարյան, ; born 21 January 1989) is an Armenian professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or winger for club Inter Milan.
Mkhitaryan won four Armenian Premier League titles w ...
, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (2) and Adrián Ramos
Gustavo Adrián Ramos Vásquez (; born 22 January 1986), commonly known as Adrián Ramos, is a Colombian footballer who plays as a striker for Colombian club América de Cali.
He made his debut for the Colombia national football team in 2008 ...
. On 28 October, they played the second round away at FC St. Pauli of the 2. Bundesliga
The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...
, winning 3–0 with goals from Ciro Immobile, Marco Reus and Shinji Kagawa. The third round on 3 March 2015 again had Dortmund travel, to third-tier Dynamo Dresden, where they won 2–0 from two goals by Immobile in the second half, after losing Reus to injury in the first half.
Dortmund's first home fixture of the tournament came in the quarter-finals on 7 April, against their first top-flight opponent, TSG 1899 Hoffenheim
Turn- und Sportgemeinschaft 1899 Hoffenheim e.V., or simply TSG 1899 Hoffenheim or just Hoffenheim () is a German professional football club based in Hoffenheim, a village of Sinsheim municipality, Baden-Württemberg.
Originally founded in 18 ...
. They gained the lead when defender Neven Subotić volleyed from a corner kick, but within two minutes Kevin Volland
Kevin Volland (born 30 July 1992) is a German professional footballer who plays as a striker or a winger for Ligue 1 club Monaco and the Germany national team. He gained prominence at the 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship where he was ...
equalised with his own volley. Shortly afterwards, Subotić's defensive error allowed Roberto Firmino
Roberto Firmino Barbosa de Oliveira (born 2 October 1991) is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a forward or attacking midfielder for club Liverpool and the Brazil national team.
After starting his career with Figueirense in ...
to put Hoffenheim into the lead. In the second half, Aubameyang equalised for Dortmund, heading in Erik Durm
Erik Durm (born 12 May 1992) is a German professional footballer who plays as a full-back for 2. Bundesliga club 1. FC Kaiserslautern.
He made his senior debut for the Germany national team in 2014, and later that year was part of their squad ...
's cross. The game went to extra time, in which Sebastian Kehl
Sebastian Walter Kehl (; born 13 February 1980) is a German former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. He is currently the Sporting Director of Borussia Dortmund.
He amassed Bundesliga totals of 314 games and 24 goals o ...
scored a long-range volleyed winner for Dortmund. On 28 April, Dortmund went to the Allianz Arena to face Bayern Munich in the semi-finals, a repeat of the last season's final. The hosts took the lead through Robert Lewandowski, whom they had signed from Dortmund in the summer, but Dortmund equalised with 15 minutes to play, Aubameyang finishing Mkhitaryan's cross. The game went to a penalty shootout
The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...
, in which all four Bayern takers including goalkeeper Manuel Neuer missed, but Dortmund's İlkay Gündoğan and Kehl scored.
VfL Wolfsburg
VfL Wolfsburg, also of the Bundesliga, began in the first round away to 2. Bundesliga club SV Darmstadt 98
Sportverein Darmstadt 1898 e.V., commonly known as Darmstadt 98 (), is a German football club based in Darmstadt, Hesse. The club was founded on 22 May 1898 as FC Olympia Darmstadt. Early in 1919, the association was briefly known as ''Rasen-Sp ...
on 17 August. After a goalless draw, they won on penalties: Naldo Naldo may refer to:
* Ronaldo Aparecido Rodrigues (born 1982), Brazilian football defender
* Edinaldo Gomes Pereira (born 1988), Brazilian football defender
* Marinaldo dos Santos Oliveira (born 1990), commonly known as Naldo, Brazilian footballer
...
missed their first attempt, but Maurice Exslager and Milan Ivana
Milan Ivana (born 26 November 1983) is a Slovak former professional footballer who played as a winger or forward.
Honours
Slovakia U19
* UEFA European Under-19 Championship: third place 2002
File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise ...
missed for the hosts. They then hosted a 4–1 win over second-tier 1. FC Heidenheim
1. FC Heidenheim 1846 is a German association football club from the city of Heidenheim, Baden-Württemberg.
History
The current day club was formed in 2007 through the separation of the football section from parent association ''Heidenheimer ...
in the second round: despite conceding Marc Schnatterer's opener for the visitors, they replied with goals by Daniel Caligiuri, Bas Dost
Bas Dost (; born 31 May 1989) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a forward for Eredivisie club FC Utrecht.
Having begun his career at FC Emmen in the Eerste Divisie, Dost later played in the Eredivisie for Heracles Almelo and SC ...
and Luiz Gustavo (2). In the third round on 4 March, they travelled to the Red Bull Arena where they defeated 2. Bundesliga club RB Leipzig
RasenBallsport Leipzig e.V. (), commonly known as RB Leipzig, and colloquially referred to as Red Bull Leipzig, is a German professional football club based in Leipzig, Saxony. The club was founded in 2009 by the initiative of the company Red Bul ...
2–0, with a goal in either half from Caligiuri and Timm Klose.
In the quarter-finals on 7 April, Wolfsburg hosted their first top-flight opponent, SC Freiburg
Sport-Club Freiburg e.V., commonly known as SC Freiburg () or just Freiburg, is a German football club, based in the city of Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg. It plays in the Bundesliga, having been promoted as champions from the 2. Bund ...
. In the second half, Caligiuri was fouled by Julian Schuster for a penalty, which Ricardo Rodríguez converted past Roman Bürki for the only goal of the game.[ They played away to third-tier DSC Arminia Bielefeld in the semi-finals 22 days later. Wolfsburg won 4–0, with two goals by Maximilian Arnold and further strikes by Luiz Gustavo and Ivan Perišić.]
Match
Details
References
External links
*
Match report
at kicker.de
Match report
at WorldFootball.net
Match report
at Fussballdaten.de
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dfb-Pokal Final 2015
Borussia Dortmund matches
VfL Wolfsburg matches
2014–15 in German football cups
2015
File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...
2015 in Berlin
May 2015 sports events in Germany
Football competitions in Berlin