BAYERN TO FACE WINNER OF MIDDLE RHINE CUP
Following the draw for the first round of the 2020-21 DFB-Pokal, defending champions and record winners Bayern München will have to wait and see who their opponents will be. The Bavarians face the winner of the Middle Rhine Cup, with a further 22 clubs also waiting to find out who they will face in the first round of the competition.
Last season's runners-up Bayer 04 Leverkusen have been drawn against the winner of the Hamburg Cup, whilst Borussia Mönchengladbach will play whoever lifts the Bremen Cup. Bundesliga runners-up Borussia Dortmund meanwhile have a short trip to 3.Liga side MSV Duisburg. The list of 64 teams in this year's competition remains incomplete due to the disruption Coronavirus caused to the football schedule, and because the regional cups aren't set to be completed until the 22nd August 2020, teams looking to qualify from them were represented by 'placeholders' for the time being. The decision to conduct the draw before the full list was confirmed was taken to give clubs (especially the amateur ones) as much time as possible to put in place the social-distancing measures needed to host matches.
The first-round matches will take place between 11th to 14th September, and will mark the start of the 2020-21 season in German professional football. The Bundesliga is scheduled to resume a week later. The second round of matches is scheduled to take place from 22nd-23rd December, with the round-of-16 planned for 2nd-3rd February 2021. The quarter-finals have been scheduled for 2nd-3rd March 2021 and the semi-finals during the first weekend of May 2021 - although this is still to be confirmed. The date for the final has been fixed however, and will be held on 13th May 2021 at the Olympiastadion in Berlin.
The full draw (matches to be played 11th to 14th September):
1. FC Nürnberg – RB Leipzig Schleswig-Holstein Cup Winners (3.Liga and Regionalliga) – VfL Osnabrück Lower Saxony Cup Winners – FSV Mainz 05 Saxony Cup Winners – TSG Hoffenheim Bavaria Cup Winners – Eintracht Frankfurt Thuringia Cup Winners – Werder Bremen SV Wehen Wiesbaden – 1. FC Heidenheim Middle Rhine Cup Winners – Bayern München Lower Saxony Cup Winners (amateurs) – FC Augsburg South Baden Cup Winners – Holstein Kiel Eintracht Braunschweig – Hertha BSC Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Cup Winners - VfB Stuttgart MSV Duisburg – Borussia Dortmund Hesse Cup Winners – SV Sandhausen Württemberg Cup Winners – Erzgebirge Aue Dynamo Dresden – Hamburger SV Rhineland Cup Winners – VfL Bochum Baden Cup Winners – SC Freiburg Brandenburg Cup Winners – VfL Wolfsburg Bremen Cup Winners – Borussia Mönchengladbach Saarland Cup Winners – FC St. Pauli Hamburg Cup Winners – Bayer 04 Leverkusen Würzburger Kickers – Hannover 96 Westphalia Cup Winners #2 – Greuther Fürth South West Cup Winners – Jahn Regensburg Berlin Cup Winners – 1. FC Köln Lower Rhine Cup Winners – Arminia Bielefeld Bavaria Cup Winners – FC Schalke 04 FC Ingolstadt – Fortuna Düsseldorf Karlsruher SC – Union Berlin 1. FC Magdeburg – SV Darmstadt 98 Westphalia Cup Winners #1 – SC Paderborn