Energie Cottbus is hoping for big opponents in the 2025/26 DFB Cup!

Energie Cottbus is hoping for big opponents in the 2025/26 DFB Cup!

Today, June 14, 2025, football fans all over Germany are looking forward to the draw for the first round of the 2025/26 DFB Cup. This will take place this evening at the German Football Museum in Dortmund and will be broadcast live on ZDF from 5:15 p.m. The lottery ticket will be the athlete Owen Ansah, who is known as the German record holder for 100 meters under 9.99 seconds. The Lausitzer Rundschau reports that there is a lot of excitement in advance, especially for the Energie Cottbus team.

Energie Cottbus, who qualified with an impressive fourth place in the 3rd league last season, are hoping to be drawn against a well-known opponent. Such a duel could not only guarantee an exciting game for the city and the team, but also ensure a sold-out stadium. The Bundesliga emphasizes that the first rounds of the DFB Cup always provide surprises and captivate the spectators.

Rewards and appointment overview

Another aspect that fuels the anticipation of the DFB Cup are the financial bonuses. In each round there are significant amounts of money for the winners, which can reach up to 4.32 million euros for the cup winner. Here is an overview of the rewards per round:

• 1. Runde: 209.453 Euro
• 2. Runde: 418.906 Euro
• Achtelfinale: 837.813 Euro
• Viertelfinale: 1,68 Millionen Euro
• Halbfinale: 3,35 Millionen Euro
• Finalist: 2,88 Millionen Euro
• Sieger: 4,32 Millionen Euro

The first round of the competition will be played between August 15 and 18, 2025, a week before the Bundesliga season starts. While the teams playing on August 26th or 27th, such as cup winners VfB Stuttgart and champions FC Bayern Munich, enter the competition later, the other teams have more time to prepare. Wikipedia's comprehensive information show that the DFB Cup is not only considered the second most important title in German club football, but also has a long history of exciting encounters and unpredictable twists and turns.

Teams and structures

A total of 64 teams compete in the DFB Cup. These consist of 18 Bundesliga teams, 18 teams from the 2nd Bundesliga, 4 representatives from the 3rd league such as Energie Cottbus and 24 teams from lower leagues, which often qualify by winning the state cup. Well-known teams such as SV Sandhausen, BFC Dynamo and RSV Eintracht 1949 are also represented in the amateur pot.

Another exciting detail is that duels between rival teams such as Dynamo Dresden or Hansa Rostock are excluded in the first round, which increases the likelihood that we could come across surprising pairings thanks to the successful combination of professional and amateur teams. The anticipation of the draw is growing and everyone is looking forward to the possible encounters.

With all of these aspects in mind, it remains to be seen what exciting matches the draw will produce tonight! The anticipation is great and the football world is looking forward to what happens in Dortmund.