The Saarland Cup (German: ''Saarlandpokal'') is one of the 21 regional cup competitions of

German football Association football, Football is the most popular sport in Germany with 57% of the population declaring interest in watching it. The German Football Association ( or ) is the sport's national governing body, with 6.6 million members (ro ...

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

German Cup The DFB-Pokal (), also known as the German Cup in English, 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 Bundes ...

. It is limited to clubs from

Saarland Saarland (, ; ) is a state of Germany in the southwest of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, and the smallest in ...

, however, teams 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 2. Bundesliga are not permitted to compete. A number of clubs from regions of

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are ...

who border the Saarland also compete in the Cup, best known of these being the

SV Hasborn SV, Sv, sv, etc. may refer to: Places and language * El Salvador, ISO 3166-1 country code SV * Province of Savona, (vehicle registration plate code), Italy * South Vietnam, an extinct state * Svalbard, Norway, FIPS country code SV * Swedish langu ...

who has won the cup twice.

History

The Cup was established in 1974. The Saarland Cup is played annually. Previous to the Saarpokal, a South West German Cup, not to be confused with the

South West Cup The South West Cup () is one of the 21 regional cup competitions of German football. The winner of the competition gains entry to the first round of the German Cup. It is limited to clubs from the Rheinhessen-Pfalz region of Rhineland-Palatinate, ...

, was played from 1964 to 1974. It was also a qualifying competition for the German Cup but included clubs from both the Saarland and

. The winner of the Saarland Cup qualified for the first round of the German Cup. Since the establishment of the 3rd Liga in 2008, reserve teams can not take part in the German Cup anymore, but are permitted to play in the regional competitions.

Modus

Clubs from fully professional leagues are not permitted to enter the competition, meaning, no teams from the

and the 2. Bundesliga can compete. All clubs from the Saarland playing in 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 t ...

(III),

Regionalliga West The Regionalliga West is a German professional football division administered by the German Football Association#Western Germany, Western German Football Association based in Duisburg. It is one of the five German regional football associations. ...

(IV), Oberliga Südwest (V),

Verbandsliga Saarland The Verbandsliga Saarland is currently the seventh tier of the German football league system in the German federated state of Saarland. Until the introduction of the Saarlandliga in 2009 it was the sixth tier, until the introduction of the 3. Liga ...

(VI) and the two Landesligas (VII) gain direct entry to the first round. All clubs below that level play two preliminary rounds in four regional groups. The lower classed team always receives home advantage, except in the final, which is played on neutral ground.

Cup finals

Held annually at the end of season, these were the cup finals since 1975: * Winners in bold

Winners

Listed in order of wins, the Cup winners are: * ¹ Includes one win by reserve team, 1. FC Saarbrücken II.

References

Sources

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

External links

Saarland Football Association website

Fussball.de: Saarland Cup
{{German Cup competitions (football) Recurring sporting events established in 1974 Football cup competitions in Germany Football competitions in Saarland 1974 establishments in West Germany