The 2014–15 DFB-Pokal was the 72nd season of the annual German football cup competition. It began on 15 August 2014 with the first of six rounds and ended on 30 May 2015 with the final at the Olympiastadion in Berlin.
1 The three regions with the most participating teams in their league competitions (Bavaria, Lower Saxony, Westphalia) are allowed to enter two teams for the competition. 2 As Hesse finalists SV Darmstadt 98 qualified through their league position, Kickers Offenbach were guaranteed a spot regardless of the final result. 3 FV Illertissen qualified as 2nd placed team in the 2013–14 Regionalliga Bayern as winners Bayern Munich II are ineligible to play in the DFB-Pokal.
Schedule
The rounds of the 2014–15 competition were scheduled as follows:[3]
The draws for the different rounds were conducted as following:[4] For the first round, the participating teams were split into two pots. The first pot contained all teams which had 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. 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/amateur teams in the first pot and the remaining professional teams in the other 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/amateur team was the home team if drawn against a professional team. In every other case, the first-drawn team served as hosts.
The draw was made on 8 March 2015. Thomas Schneider and Nia Künzer drew the matches.[11][12] The lowest ranked team left in the competition was Arminia Bielefeld from the 3. Liga, the third level in German football. The matches will be played on 7–8 April 2015.
The draw was made on 8 April 2015. Horst Hrubesch and Rico Weiler drew the pairings.[13] The lowest ranked team left in the competition was Arminia Bielefeld from the 3. Liga, the third level in German football. The matches were played on 28–29 April 2015.
The following is the bracket which the DFB-Pokal resembled. Numbers in parentheses next to the match score represent the results of a penalty shoot-out. Teams that are bolded advanced on. If "aet" is in parentheses next to a team name, it means that they advanced after extra time. If "p" is in parentheses next to a team name, it means that they advanced after a penalty shoot-out.
