DFB-Pokal 2025/26: Matches, dates, broadcast – 2nd round

Even before the start of the new Bundesliga season, the first round of the 2025/26 DFB-Pokal began. Amateurs faced off against professional teams. Not all teams made it past the first round: there were few surprises in the first round. Of the amateur teams, only one club advanced. You can find all the information about the matches and the broadcast of the second round here.

As usual, 64 teams started in the 2025/26 DFB-Pokal: the 36 professional clubs from the Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga, the four best-placed teams from the 3. Liga and 24 other clubs from the Regionalliga and Oberliga that had qualified via the state cups.

Following the conclusion of the first main round, the participants for the second round have been determined. Among the 32 remaining clubs are almost all Bundesliga teams, several second-division teams, and one amateur club:

• Bundesliga: Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig, Bayer Leverkusen, VfB Stuttgart, SC Freiburg, Eintracht Frankfurt, 1. FSV Mainz 05, Borussia Mönchengladbach, 1. FC Cologne, VfL Wolfsburg, TSG Hoffenheim, 1. FC Heidenheim, FC Augsburg, 1. FC Union Berlin, FC St. Pauli
• 2. Bundesliga: Hamburger SV, FC Schalke 04, Fortuna Düsseldorf, 1. FC Kaiserslautern, Karlsruher SC, Holstein Kiel, Arminia Bielefeld, SV Elversberg, 1. FC Magdeburg
• 3rd League: Energie Cottbus
• Amateurs: FV Illertissen (Regionalliga Bayern)

This means that numerous lower-class clubs have already been eliminated, including traditional clubs such as Rot-Weiss Essen, Dynamo Dresden and Hansa Rostock .

In the second round, the remaining teams will now face each other – with prominent duels such as 1. FC Köln vs. FC Bayern Munich or Eintracht Frankfurt vs. Borussia Dortmund .

The second main round of the 2025/26 DFB-Pokal will be played on Tuesday, October 28th , and Wednesday, October 29th, 2025 .

The DFB has now also announced the exact kickoff times. On Tuesday, four matches will begin at 6:30 p.m. – including, surprisingly, the top match between Eintracht Frankfurt and Borussia Dortmund, even though it is being broadcast on free TV.

On Wednesday evening (8:45 p.m.), the clash between 1. FC Köln and Bayern Munich will be broadcast live on ARD. Defending champions VfB Stuttgart will travel to 1. FSV Mainz 05 a little earlier (6:00 p.m.). Also scheduled for Wednesday are the matches between SC Paderborn and Bayer Leverkusen and Fortuna Düsseldorf and SC Freiburg. The reason for the Wednesday scheduling is that Freiburg, Stuttgart, and Mainz were all in international action the previous weekend.

In the DFB Cup, the following applies: The lower-class team has home advantage, provided the infrastructural conditions are met.

After the first round, the season continues in October – by then it's already in full swing. The remaining DFB Cup dates at a glance:

• 2nd main round: October 28/29, 2025
• Round of 16: December 2/3, 2025
• Quarterfinals: 3/4 and 10/11 February 2026
• Semifinals: April 21/22, 2026
• Final: May 23, 2026

The broadcasting rights for the entire DFB Cup remain with Sky and the public broadcasters ARD and ZDF .

Sky will broadcast all of the season's games live – from the first round to the final, either as individual matches or in the conference. The broadcasts are available on pay-TV and the paid streaming service WOW.

ARD and ZDF are permitted to broadcast a few selected matches per round on free TV. The DFB and the broadcasters decide which matches these are. The public broadcasters do not offer a comprehensive live conference or comprehensive live coverage. The ARD Sportschau program is limited to match summaries.

In the second main round of the 2025/26 DFB-Pokal, selected matches will be shown on free-to-air television in addition to the broadcast on pay-TV provider Sky. This time, the fixtures have already been confirmed:

The early kickoff time for the BVB match coincides with the German Women's Nations League semifinal against France, which will also air on ZDF at 9:10 p.m. This allows fans to watch several top matches on free TV, just like in the first round. All matches will also be shown as usual on Sky.

The DFB-Pokal was founded in 1935 and is now one of the most important national competitions in German football. Every year, 64 teams from professional and amateur leagues compete for a place in the final at Berlin's Olympic Stadium.

The record winner is FC Bayern Munich with 20 titles, followed by Werder Bremen (6). Borussia Dortmund, Eintracht Frankfurt, and Schalke 04 have each won the cup five times. The most frequent final matchup to date has been FC Bayern versus Borussia Dortmund – in 2008, 2012, 2014, and 2016.

In recent years, several clubs have shared the title. Here's an overview of the finals of the last ten seasons: