Bulinews
·15 Agustus 2025
DFB-Pokal Preview: Four Bundesliga clubs will start their season on Sunday

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·15 Agustus 2025
There will be 11 First Round DFB-Pokal ties on Sunday. Four of them will have Bundesliga teams trying to avoid an upset, including the 2022/23 finalists Eintracht Frankfurt starting the action in the afternoon. We’ll preview these games in this article.
The Eagles once again hit the jackpot in the transfer market with Hugo Ekitike’s mega departure, but there is not much hype regarding their upcoming season. However, Dino Toppmöller hopes to do better on all fronts in his third season with the club. That assignment starts with a trip to Stadion Oberwerth.
FV Engers 07 play in the multi-tiered fifth division, and this is only the third time they have reached the first round of the cup. In their first-ever game against Bundesliga opposition, Engers will hope to get past this round for the first time. Frankfurt last got eliminated in the first hurdle when the otherwise cup specialist Oliver Glasner lost to Waldhof Mannheim in 2021.
Frankfurt were in the USA for the majority of their preseason, where they played against Aston Villa (2-2) in one of their three friendly matches. They closed their preparation with a 1-0 defeat to Fulham at Craven Cottage last week. On the same day, Engers recorded their first win of the campaign in the second matchday of Oberliga.
Team News
The iconic Martin Hinteregger got sent off in that tie, and Arthur Theate will miss this game because he did the same in last season’s exit in Leipzig. Meanwhile, Toppmöller could be without his first two goalkeepers, with Kevin Trapp pushing for a move to Paris FC, and Kaua Santos is recovering from an ACL injury.
Predicted Lineups:
Engers: Serdarusic; Schmitten, Eberhardt, Meinert, Müller; Semchuk, Müller; Hoti; Arbursu, Simons; Naric
Frankfurt: Grahl; Kristensen, Collins, Koch, Nkounkou; Larsson, Chaibi; Doan, Götze, Bahoya; Burkardt
Three months ago, these two teams played at the RheinEnergieStadion in 2. Bundesliga. Before leaving for greener pastures in the summer, Tim Lemperle and Noah Ganaus scored for one last time for their respective clubs in a 1-1 draw.
Köln finished top of the division to win immediate promotion back to Bundesliga, while bottom-placed Regensburg returned to 3. Liga. Michael Wimmer’s side is also showing signs of struggle at the start of the new season as they lost 4-0 to newly-promoted Duisburg in front of their fans.
Meanwhile, Köln closed out their preseason with a 4-0 scoreline in their favor against Champions League participant Atalanta. Regensburg reached the Round of 16 in the cup last season, where they lost to eventual winners VfB Stuttgart. In the quarter-final, Köln nearly pulled a famous derby win before “Laterkusen” struck in the 96th minute.
Team News
Benedikt Saller, Eric Hottmann and Oscar Schönfelder didn’t feature in Regensburg’s first two 3. Liga games, and they will continue to be on the sidelines due to injuries. As for the Bundesliga outfit, Julian Pauli and Luca Kilian are the only absentees.
Predicted Lineups:
Regensburg: Gebhardt; Wurm, Fe. Strauss, Seidel; Bauer, Geipl, Kühlwetter, Stolze; Beckhoff, Asante; Hermes
Köln: Schwäbe; Schmied, Hübers, Krauß; Sebulonsen, Johannesson, Martel, Lund; Thielmann, Kaminski; Ache
In a repeat of the 1980/81 Round of 16 tie, the Lower Saxony club will face the three-time Pokal winners. Back then, coached by the young Jupp Heynckes, Gladbach progressed by scoring half a dozen goals in a game staged at their old ground, Bökelbergstadion.
This one will be played at Marschweg-stadion in Oldenburg. Since their relegation to Oberliga in 2023, Delmenhorst are fighting for promotion as they start the new season with a 5-1 victory over VfV Hildesheim away from home. In the past two decades, Gladbach have only lost once in the first round of Pokal, however.
Team News
Gladbach’s new captain Tim Kleindienst is still recovering from a serious injury. New signing Haris Tabakovic is expected to start up front in his absence. Similarly, Nathan Ngoumou will be absent for a while because of an Achilles tendon tear.
Predicted Lineups:
Delmenhorst: Schobert; Siech, Tomic, Burke; Urban, Hefele, Gijsen, Temin; Rohwedder, Diop; Poplawski
Gladbach: Nicolas; Scally, Elvedi, Diks, Ullrich; Sander, Reitz; Honorat, Stöger, Hack; Tabakovic
Robert Schröder’s Hallescher won each of their first three Regionalliga Nordost matches this season. For a Bundesliga or 2. Bundesliga team facing them in the first round of Pokal, Halle have also been one of the toughest teams to visit in recent seasons as well.
St. Pauli are a testament to that as they only equalized at the 94th minute before winning it in extra-time at the Leuna-Chemie-Stadion last season. Meanwhile, Augsburg reached the quarter-final, where they narrowly lost to eventual winners Stuttgart, after getting knocked out either in the first or second round in each of the previous five seasons.
Team News
Sandro Wagner will most likely decide not to take any risks with last season’s top-scorer Alexis Claude-Maurice and captain Jeffrey Gouweleeuw after minor injuries.
Predicted Lineups:
Hallescher: Müller; Hauptmann, Löhmannsröben, Schmedemann, Landgraf; Stierlin; Kulke, Elezi; Damelang, Polat; Fakhro
Augsburg: Dahmen; Matsima, Zesiger, Schlotterbeck; Wolf, Massengo, Jakic, Giannoulis; Kömür, Saad; Tietz