The DFB-Pokal Frauen is the main national

women's football Women's football most often refers to: * Women's association football Women's football may also refer to: * Women's gridiron football * Women's Australian rules football * Ladies' Gaelic football * Women's rugby league * Women's rugby union ...

cup competition in Germany, held annually by the

German Football Association The German Football Association ( ; DFB ) is the governing body of Association football, football, futsal, and beach soccer in Germany. A founding member of both FIFA and UEFA, the DFB has jurisdiction for the German football league system and ...

in knockout format. It was created in 1980, and since 1991 includes Eastern teams as well. The most recent champions are

VfL Wolfsburg Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg (), is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of Wolfsburg. I ...

(ten consecutive titles), they also won the most titles with eleven. Since 1985 the final has been held in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. This routine changed in 2010 when the DFB gave the final to the city of

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

. It ever stayed in the city and was held at the

RheinEnergieStadion RheinEnergieStadion, formerly Müngersdorfer Stadion () or Müngersdorfer Stadium, is a German football stadium in Cologne. It was built on the site of the two previous Müngersdorfer stadiums. It is the home of the local 2. Bundesliga team, ...

. The final usually takes place on a weekend or holiday in early May.

Format

Participation

All clubs from the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

and the 2. Bundesliga are allowed to compete in the cup as are the clubs which gained promotion to the second Bundesliga. Also the winners of the regional cup competitions compete in the cup. As an exception to these rules, clubs' second teams are not allowed to participate in the DFB-Pokal. When a second team wins its regional cup, that team's regional association may send another team to the DFB-Pokal only if the cup winning second team has not also achieved promotion to the 2. Bundesliga.

Seeding

Of the qualified teams, not all have to compete in the first round. Exactly 32 teams have to compete in the second round of the tournament, so in the first round the number of matches is determined by the number of excess teams. The teams that do not have to compete in the first round are the best finishers from the previous Bundesliga season, the number again determined by the number of entrants to the tournament. The pairings for round one, two, and three are not entirely random as there is a commission allocating the clubs to two or four groups as they see fit. These groups correspond with the regional provenance of the clubs. In the third round the commission can decide not to allocate the contestants to any groups. Within those groups the clubs are again separated, this time depending on the league they play in. For the draw, clubs from the Bundesligas are put in one pot and the rest in a second pot. Non-Bundesliga clubs automatically have home advantage against clubs from the Bundesligas. From 2025–26 on, 32 teams will compete in a play-off round, while there is no regional split-up (21 winners of the regional cups, five promoted teams from the Regionalliga and six teams from the 2. Bundesliga), to determine the 16 teams in the first round. There, the Bundesliga and the four best-placed teams from the 2. Bundesliga will join.

Match rules

All games are held over two 45-minute halves with the winner advancing to the next round. In case of a draw, the game gets an extended by two 15-minute halves. If the score is still level after 120 minutes the winner is decided by

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 the final no

extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play 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 if the game is required t ...

is added in case of a draw after 90 minutes, instead the penalty shootout follows immediately.

Winners

Before the

reunification of Germany German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the German Democratic Republic and the integration of i ...

the cup competition included teams from

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

only.

Winners by team

(*) Note: Runner-up of VfL Wolfsburg as VfR Eintracht Wolfsburg. (**) Note: All titles/runner-ups of Eintracht Frankfurt with the exception of runner-up 2020/21 as 1. FFC Frankfurt.

References

External links

*
List of Cup Finals at rsssf.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dfb-Pokal Frauen ger Women's football competitions in Germany Recurring sporting events established in 1980 3 1980 establishments in West Germany