The Bitburger-wfv-Pokal is one of the 21 regional cup competitions of

German football Football (or "soccer") is the most popular sport in Germany. The German Football Association (german: Deutscher Fußball-Bund, link=no or ) is the sport's national governing body, with 6.6 million members (roughly eight percent of the popul ...

. The winner of the competition gains entry to the first round of the

German Cup The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considere ...

. It was introduced in 1945. In 2011 the cup was renamed from WFV-Pokal into Bitburger-wfv-Pokal because of a new name sponsoring by the brewery Bitburger. WFV stands for Württembergischer Fußball-Verband (football association of the region Württemberg).

History

The competition was established in 1945 in the Württemberg part of

Württemberg-Baden Württemberg-Baden was a state of the Federal Republic of Germany. It was created in 1945 by the United States occupation forces, after the previous states of Baden and Württemberg had been split up between the US and French occupation zones. ...

and in

Württemberg-Hohenzollern Württemberg-Hohenzollern (french: Wurtemberg-Hohenzollern ) was a West German state created in 1945 as part of the French post-World War II occupation zone. Its capital was Tübingen. In 1952, it was merged into the newly founded state of Bad ...

. In 1952, these two states merged with South Baden to form

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

but three separate football associations, Württemberg, Baden and South Baden, remained and also their regional cups. Initially, the final was held at a neutral ground but from 1967 onwards, one of the two finalists received home advantage. Occasionally, it would however still be held at a neutral venue when the club with the home advantage didn't have a suitable stadium. After 1981, the competitions final returned to a neutral venue. From 1974 onwards, the winner of the WFV Cup qualified for the first round of the German Cup. At times, the WFV was permitted to send both, winner and finalist to the first round of the German Cup, currently (2008–09), it is only the winner as Württemberg is not one of the three largest federations, which are permitted to send two clubs. Possibly the most remarkable WFV-Cup winner in terms of German Cup appearance was the SC Geislingen in 1984–85. The club drew

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its football section. Though the current HSV was founded in June 1919 from a merger of three ...

for the first round and beat the Bundesliga club 2–0, then defeated

Kickers Offenbach Offenbacher Kickers, also known as Kickers Offenbach, is a German association football club in Offenbach am Main, Hesse. The club was founded on 27 May 1901 in the Rheinischer Hof restaurant by footballers who had left established local clubs ...

4–2 to go out in the third round 0–2 to the later winners

Bayer Uerdingen KFC Uerdingen 05 is a German football club in the Uerdingen district of the city of Krefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia. The former Bundesliga side enjoyed its greatest successes in the 1980s but now plays in the fifth-level Oberliga. History The ...

Modus

Professional clubs are not permitted to enter the competition, meaning, no teams from 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 footba ...

and 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 ...

'' can compete. All clubs from Württemberg playing from the

3. Liga The 3. Liga is a professional association football league and the third division in Germany. In the German football league system, it is positioned between the 2. Bundesliga and the fourth-tier Regionalliga. The modern 3. Liga was formed for th ...

to the four Landesligas (VII) gain direct entry to the first round. To make up the set number of 128 clubs for the first round, the best teams from the Bezirkspokale, which teams below tier seven play in, are also admitted.

Cup finals

Held annually at the end of season, these were the cup finals since 1950: * Source: * Winners in bold.

Winners

Listed in order of wins, the Cup winners are: * ¹ Includes one win by SSV Ulm. * ² Includes one win by VfL Heidenheim.

References

Sources

*''Deutschlands Fußball in Zahlen'', An annual publication with tables and results from the Bundesliga to Verbandsliga/Landesliga, publisher: DSFS

External links

Fussball.de: Württemberg Cup

Württemberg football association website

Die Endspiele um den wfv-Pokal der Herren seit 1950/51
WFV website – List of Cup finals {{DEFAULTSORT:Wurttemberg Cup Recurring sporting events established in 1945 Football cup competitions in Germany Football competitions in Baden-Württemberg 1945 establishments in Germany