1972–73_FDGB-Pokal
1972–73 FDGB-Pokal
Football tournament season
The 1972–73 season was the 22nd competition for the FDGB-Pokal, the national football cup competition of East Germany.
As the second-tier DDR-Liga had been enlarged to 58 teams in the previous season, the competition had to be held in a new format. The first round proper was held — after a play-off between Zentronik Sömmerda and HFC Chemie II — with 72 teams: 15 Bezirkspokal winners (designated with an asterisk), 55 DDR-Liga teams and the two teams relegated from the DDR-Oberliga in the 1971–72 season, Stahl Riesa and Vorwärts Stralsund.[citation needed]
After an intermediate round that saw the seven remaining Bezirkspokal winners and the 29 surviving DDR-Liga teams, the 14 current DDR-Oberliga teams joined in the second round proper. Only two Bezirkspokal winners (Wismut Gera II and Fortschritt Krumhermersdorf) took part in this round, together with 16 second-tier teams. Both Bezirkspokal winners were eliminated, as well as three top-flight teams: Sachsenring Zwickau, Vorwärts Frankfurt and Wismut Aue.[citation needed]
In contrast to the first rounds, the fixtures in the round of last 16, the quarter- and semi-finals were played over two legs. If scores were level, extra time and a penalty shoot-out followed. The away goals rule was applied as well.[citation needed]
The reserve team of F.C. Hansa Rostock was the only second-tier club not eliminated in the round of last 16 and thus the club entered the quarter-finals with two teams. Hansa had eliminated defending champions FC Carl Zeiss Jena, but went out in the quarter-final against 1. FC Magdeburg. Last year's finalist and new DDR-Oberliga champion Dynamo Dresden went out in the quarter-finals against 1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig who went on to beat Berliner FC Dynamo to reach the final against 1. FC Magdeburg in Dessau. Magdeburg had beaten fellow DDR-Oberliga side FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt to secure their fourth final appearance since 1964 (as SC Aufbau Magdeburg).[citation needed]