A Verbandspokal (English: Association Cup) is a regional men's association football competition in Germany. There are 21 Verbandspokal competitions which function as qualifying tournaments for the following season's DFB-Pokal, the premier German Cup competition.[1]Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga clubs are not permitted to enter as they are already directly qualified for the first round of the DFB-Pokal.
Apart from the 21 Verbandspokal champions, three more teams qualify from the regional football association, to bring the number of clubs in the first round of the DFB-Pokal to 64. These three teams come from the three regional associations with the most members, these currently being Bavaria, Lower Saxony and Westphalia.[1]
The regional competitions, (plural:Verbandspokale) are generally open to all clubs in the 3. Liga and below, however regional rules vary between associations. 3. Liga clubs have a double chance to qualify for the first round of the DFB-Pokal, through the Verbandspokale and through finishing in the top four in their league.
Rules and regulations for the Verbandspokale are set by the regional football associations and vary. Bavaria, the largest one, stipulates that reserve teams are not permitted to participate in the Bavarian Cup. Teams from lower divisions always have home advantage, if two teams of the same division are drawn against each other the team drawn first receives home advantage.
Bavarian clubs from the 3. Liga and Regionalliga Bayern, except reserve teams, are obliged to participate in the cup. Clubs from the two Bayernliga divisions and the five Landesliga Bayern divisions play a qualifying round. Additionally, the 24 regional cup winners in Bavaria, the Kreispokale, are also qualified for the first round of the Bavarian Cup. If a game is undecided after regular time a penalty shoot out follows, no extra time is played.[4]
In Lower Saxony, the third-largest association, clubs from the state playing in the 3. Liga, Regionalliga Nord and Oberliga Niedersachsen as well as the four Bezirkspokal winners are qualified for the first round of the Lower Saxony Cup.[5]
History
The longest-running competition of the Verbandspokale is the Berlin Cup, first held in 1907.[6] All other cup competitions originated after the Second World War.
In February 2016 it was announced that German broadcaster ARD for the first time would show all 21 Verbandspokal finals live in a conference as well as live stream them and that all finals would be played on the same date, 28 May 2016.[26]
Fussball.de(in German) Official results website of the DFB
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