News (engl.)

The 83rd men’s DFB-Pokal final takes place at Berlin’s Olympiastadion on Saturday (20:00 CEST). Record winners FC Bayern München will face holders VfB Stuttgart, and DFB.de has picked out the most interesting match facts ahead of the final.

Familiar foes: The two southern German rivals will meet in a competitive fixture for the 170th time, and for the 11th time in the DFB-Pokal. Bayern have the better record on both counts, with 102 wins overall, 38 defeats and 29 draws. VfB have only ever beaten FCB once in the cup to date. The two sides first met in the final round of the 1930 South German Championship, when Bayern won 6-3.

Cup pedigree: VfB Stuttgart are taking part in the DFB-Pokal for the 74th time this year and have reached the final for the eighth time. The Swabians have lifted the trophy four times, most recently last year in a 4-2 win over Arminia Bielefeld, having previously done so in 1954, 1958 and 1997. Bayern are the competition’s record winners with 20 triumphs from 25 finals and 67 appearances, though their most recent cup success came six years ago. They beat Bayer Leverkusen 4-2 in 2020, with five members of the current squad also part of that winning team: Manuel Neuer, Joshua Kimmich, Leon Goretzka, Serge Gnabry and Alphonso Davies.

Bad omen: Both of this year’s finalists sit inside the historical top 10 for most defeats in DFB-Pokal finals. FC Bayern have lost four finals, putting them joint sixth, while VfB are joint 10th with three final defeats. FC Schalke 04 lead the way in this category, having lost seven of their 12 finals.

Serial winners: FC Bayern München are one of only eight clubs to have won back-to-back DFB-Pokal finals, and they have achieved the feat three times. VfB Stuttgart could now do it for the first time having triumphed in last year’s final.

Goals galore: When it comes to scoring in DFB-Pokal finals, nobody can match FC Bayern. The Munich club have scored 57 goals in finals, but have also conceded 28 – both competition highs in their respective categories. VfB’s record is more balanced, with 17 goals scored and 16 conceded.

Goal-laden cup runs: FC Bayern München and VfB Stuttgart are the two highest-scoring teams in this season’s DFB-Pokal. Bayern have scored 14 times in their five matches, making them the competition’s most dangerous attacking side, while Stuttgart have netted 13. Bayern forward Harry Kane leads the way with seven goals, while Deniz Undav has scored three for VfB and set up two more.

Biggest final win: Two DFB-Pokal finals have ended in a record 5-0 scoreline, and both times FC Schalke 04 were the team celebrating: first against 1. FC Kaiserslautern in 1971/72, and then against MSV Duisburg in 2010/11.

Berlin, Berlin...: The DFB-Pokal final will be staged in Berlin for the 48th time, with the capital now firmly established as the venue for the competition’s showpiece. Previously, the final was played nine times in Hannover and five times each in Düsseldorf, Frankfurt and Stuttgart.

Neuer a regular in Berlin: Goalkeeper Manuel Neuer knows the DFB-Pokal final stage better than most, having already played for the trophy in Berlin seven times. He has won it on a record-equalling six occasions – five times with Bayern and once with Schalke – drawing level with Oliver Kahn, Thomas Müller, Philipp Lahm and Franck Ribéry. Neuer has also made 63 DFB-Pokal appearances in total, putting him seventh on the all-time list. Another outing this weekend in Berlin would see him move level with Bernard Dietz in sixth.

Ulreich in finals with both clubs: Sven Ulreich, FC Bayern München’s third-choice goalkeeper, has already appeared in a DFB-Pokal final for both of this year’s finalists. He lost both games, however: 3-2 with VfB Stuttgart against Bayern in 2012/13, and 3-1 with Bayern against Eintracht Frankfurt in 2017/18.

26 cup winners: A total of 40 teams have reached a DFB-Pokal final, with last year’s finalists Arminia Bielefeld the most recent addition to that list. Of those 40 clubs, 26 have gone on to write their names into the history books as cup winners.

83 or 84: This may be the 83rd DFB-Pokal season, but it will actually be the 84th final. The reason is the 1976/77 final between 1. FC Köln and Hertha BSC, which finished 1-1 after extra time and required a replay two days later. Köln won that rematch 1-0.

Finals by numbers: A total of 5,164,934 spectators have attended DFB-Pokal finals over the years, with no fans added to that tally in 2019/20 and 2020/21 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Those almost 5.2 million fans have seen 268 goals, 181 yellow cards, six second yellow cards and eight red cards.