The2024–25DFB-Pokal was the 82nd season of the annual Germanfootball cup competition. Sixty-four teams participated in the competition, including all teams from the previous year'sBundesliga and2. Bundesliga. The competition began on 16 August 2024 with the first of six rounds and ended on 24 May 2025 with the final at theOlympiastadion inBerlin, a nominally neutral venue, which has hosted the final since 1985.^[1] The DFB-Pokal is considered the second-most important club title in German football after the Bundesliga championship. The DFB-Pokal is run by theGerman Football Association (DFB).Bayer Leverkusen were the defending champions, but they were eliminated byArminia Bielefeld in the semi-finals.VfB Stuttgart won a fourth title after defeating Bielefeld 4–2 in thefinal.As winners, Stuttgart earned automatic qualification to the2025–26 UEFA Europa League league stage. They will also host the2025 edition of theFranz Beckenbauer Supercup at the start of the next season, and will face the champions of the2024–25 Bundesliga,Bayern Munich.

The following teams qualified for the competition:

The DFB-Pokal began with a round of 64 teams. The 36 teams of theBundesliga and2. Bundesliga, along with the top four finishers of the3. Liga automatically qualified for the tournament. Of the remaining slots, 21 were given to the cup winners of the regional football associations, theVerbandspokal. The three remaining slots were given to the three regional associations with the most men's teams, which were Bavaria, Lower Saxony and Westphalia. The best-placed amateur team of theRegionalliga Bayern was given the spot for Bavaria. For Lower Saxony, theLower Saxony Cup was split into two paths: one for3. Liga andRegionalliga Nord teams, and the other for amateur teams. The winners of each path qualified. For Westphalia, the spot rotated each season between the best-placed Westphalian team of theRegionalliga West and the best-placed amateur team of theOberliga Westfalen. For the 2024–25 DFB-Pokal, this spot was awarded to a team from the Oberliga. As every team was entitled to participate in local tournaments which qualified for the association cups, every team could in principle compete in the DFB-Pokal. Reserve teams and combined football sections were not permitted to enter, along with no two teams of the same association or corporation.^[3]

The draws for the different rounds were conducted as follows:^[3]

For the first round, the participating teams were split into two pots of 32 teams each. The first pot contained all teams which qualified through their regional cup competitions, the best four teams of the 3. Liga, and the bottom four teams of the 2. Bundesliga. Every team from this pot was drawn to a team from the second pot, which contained all remaining professional teams (all the teams of the Bundesliga and the remaining fourteen 2. Bundesliga teams). The teams from the first pot were set as the home team in the process.

The two-pot scenario was also applied for the second round, with the remaining 3. Liga and/or amateur team(s) in the first pot and the remaining Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga teams in the other pot. Once again, the 3. Liga and/or amateur team(s) served as hosts. This time the pots did not have to be of equal size though, depending on the results of the first round. Theoretically, it was even possible that there could be only one pot, if all of the teams from one of the pots from the first round beat all the others in the second pot. Once one pot was empty, the remaining pairings were drawn from the other pot, with the first-drawn team for a match serving as hosts.

For the remaining rounds, the draw was conducted from just one pot. Any remaining 3. Liga and/or amateur team(s) were the home team if drawn against a professional team. In every other case, the first-drawn team served as hosts.

Teams met in one game per round. Matches took place for 90 minutes, with two halves of 45 minutes each. If still tied after regulation, 30 minutes ofextra time were played, consisting of two periods of 15 minutes each. If the score was still level after this, the match was decided by apenalty shoot-out. A coin toss decided who took the first penalty.^[3][4] A maximum of nine players could be listed on the substitute bench, while a maximum of five substitutions were allowed. However, each team was only given three opportunities to make substitutions, with a fourth opportunity in extra time, excluding substitutions made at half-time, before the start of extra time and at half-time in extra time.^[5] From the round of 16 onward, avideo assistant referee was appointed for all DFB-Pokal matches. Though technically possible, VAR was not used for home matches of Bundesliga clubs prior to the round of 16 in order to provide a uniform approach to all matches.^[6]

If a player received five yellow cards in the competition, he was then suspended from the next cup match. Similarly, receiving a second yellow card suspended a player from the next cup match. If a player received a direct red card, they were suspended a minimum of one match, but the German Football Association reserved the right to increase the suspension.^[3]

The winners of the DFB-Pokal earned automatic qualification for the league phase of next season's edition of theUEFA Europa League. If they had already qualified for theUEFA Champions League through position in the Bundesliga, then the spot went to the team in sixth place, and the league'sUEFA Conference League play-off round spot to the team in seventh place. The winners will also host theFranz Beckenbauer Supercup at the start of the next season, and will face the champions of the previous year'sBundesliga, unless the same team wins the Bundesliga and the DFB-Pokal, completing a double. In that case, the runners-up of the Bundesliga took the spot and hosted instead.

All draws were generally held on a Sunday evening after each round (unless noted otherwise).^[7]

The rounds of the 2024–25 competition were scheduled as follows:^[1]

Times up to 27 October 2024 and from 30 March 2025 areCEST (UTC+2). Times from 28 October 2024 to 29 March 2025 areCET (UTC+1).

The draw took place on 23 June 2024, withNils Petersen drawing the matches.^[8][9] Thirty of the thirty-two matches took place from 16 to 19 August 2024. The remaining two matches, involving the participants of the2024 DFL-Supercup (played on 17 August), took place on 27 and 28 August 2024.

Viktoria Berlin vFC Augsburg

18 August 2024 (2024-08-18)	Viktoria Berlin	1–4	FC Augsburg	Berlin
13:00	Liu 4'	Report	Rexhbecaj 33' Essende 53' Dorsch 87' Tietz 90+2'	Stadium:Stadion Lichterfelde Attendance: 5,504 Referee: Eric Weisbach

1. FC Saarbrücken v1. FC Nürnberg

18 August 2024 (2024-08-18)	1. FC Saarbrücken	1–1 (a.e.t.) (3–5p)	1. FC Nürnberg	Saarbrücken
13:00	Brünker 80'	Report	Ševčík 12'	Stadium:Ludwigsparkstadion Attendance: 14,868 Referee:Bastian Dankert
	Penalties
	Rizzuto Civeja Zeitz Brünker		Duman Flick Serra Schleimer Lubach

Teutonia Ottensen vDarmstadt 98

18 August 2024 (2024-08-18)	Teutonia Ottensen	1–3	Darmstadt 98	Hamburg
15:30	Stark 49'	Report	Klefisch 19' Nürnberger 28' (pen.) Vilhelmsson 62'	Stadium:Millerntor-Stadion Attendance: 6,487 Referee: Florian Lechner

Jahn Regensburg vVfL Bochum

18 August 2024 (2024-08-18)	Jahn Regensburg	1–0	VfL Bochum	Regensburg
15:30	Ballas 70'	Report		Stadium:Jahnstadion Regensburg Attendance: 12,581 Referee: Florian Heft

Hansa Rostock vHertha BSC

18 August 2024 (2024-08-18)	Hansa Rostock	1–5	Hertha BSC	Rostock
15:30	Berisha 46'	Report	Scherhant 38' Maza 66' Winkler 75' Niederlechner 85',88'	Stadium:Ostseestadion Attendance: 25,600 Referee: Robert Schröder

Energie Cottbus vWerder Bremen

19 August 2024 (2024-08-19)	Energie Cottbus	1–3	Werder Bremen	Cottbus
18:00	Rorig 70'	Report	Topp 32',37',55'	Stadium:Stadion der Freundschaft Attendance: 20,000 Referee:Harm Osmers

TuS Koblenz vVfL Wolfsburg

19 August 2024 (2024-08-19)	TuS Koblenz	0–1	VfL Wolfsburg	Koblenz
18:00		Report	Wimmer 15'	Stadium:Stadion Oberwerth Attendance: 9,447 Referee:Sören Storks

Kickers Offenbach v1. FC Magdeburg

19 August 2024 (2024-08-19)	Kickers Offenbach	2–1	1. FC Magdeburg	Offenbach
18:00	Sorge 31' Mustafa 74'	Report	Kaars 54'	Stadium:Stadion am Bieberer Berg Attendance: 16,847 Referee: Patrick Alt

The draw took place on 1 September 2024, withSonja Greinacher drawing the matches.^[10][11] The matches took place on 29 and 30 October 2024.

The draw took place on 3 November 2024, withAndré Schnura [de] andRudi Völler drawing the matches.^[12][13] The matches took place on 3 and 4 December 2024.

The draw took place on 15 December 2024, withJulian Köster drawing the matches.^[14][15] The matches took place between 4 and 26 February 2025.

The draw took place on 2 March 2025, withGerald Asamoah drawing the matches.^[16][17] The matches took place on 1 and 2 April 2025.

The final took place on 24 May 2025.

The following were the top scorers of the DFB-Pokal, sorted first by number of goals, and then alphabetically if necessary. Goals scored in penalty shoot-outs are not included.

Rank	Player	Team	Goals[18]
1	Nick Woltemade	VfB Stuttgart	5
2	Patrik Schick	Bayer Leverkusen	4
	Benjamin Šeško	RB Leipzig
4	Maximilian Breunig	1. FC Heidenheim	3
	Hugo Ekitike	Eintracht Frankfurt
	Samuel Essende	FC Augsburg
	Enzo Millot	VfB Stuttgart
	Jamal Musiala	Bayern Munich
	Loïs Openda	RB Leipzig
	Keke Topp	Werder Bremen
	Marius Wörl	Arminia Bielefeld

• Official website(in German)
• DFB-Pokal on kicker.de(in German)

• DFB-Pokal seasons
• 2024–25 in German football cups

• CS1 German-language sources (de)
• Use dmy dates from February 2023
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Official website not in Wikidata
• Articles with German-language sources (de)