Bayern Munich and Wolfsburg do not enter the DFB-Pokal until September. For one weekend, the competition belongs to everybody else.
Thirty-two teams meet in regional play-offs on 15 and 16 August. Sixteen will reach the first main round. For many, the prize is not a realistic path to Cologne in May. It is the chance to place a local or amateur club in the same draw as Germany’s best.
A format built to create proper cup ties
The 2026/27 competition contains 48 teams. The play-off field is formed from 21 regional cup winners, eligible 2. Frauen-Bundesliga clubs, promoted regional sides and an additional association place. The draw is divided into north and south sections to keep travel sensible, while teams below the second tier receive home advantage.
The 16 winners join all 14 Frauen-Bundesliga clubs and the two best eligible teams from last season’s second division in the first main round, scheduled for 26–28 September.
The incentive could hardly be clearer: win once in August and a Bundesliga club may be coming to your ground.
The play-off ties to watch
FC St. Pauli vs SV Meppen has the most obvious atmosphere. St. Pauli’s women have built attention around a recognisable club identity; Meppen arrive as one of the strongest sides in the second tier. It is a classic cup imbalance: the visitors have the higher league status, the hosts have every reason to make the afternoon feel larger than the level suggests.
FC Jesteburg-Bendestorf vs Hertha BSC gives the newly promoted Berlin side a different challenge only two weeks into its league campaign. Hertha will be expected to control the match. Jesteburg-Bendestorf can play without that burden.
SV Babelsberg 74 vs Turbine Potsdam is the regional tie with the strongest emotional pull. Turbine’s history makes them one of the most recognisable names anywhere in the draw, but history can become pressure in a local knockout match.
Karlsruher SC vs Issel and Hansa Rostock vs VfL Bochum are among the games selected for close attention, while Schalke 04 host Hannover 96 in a meeting of famous badges building their place in the women’s game.
More matches will actually be visible
This season begins a new media-rights cycle for the women’s DFB-Pokal. From the first main round onward, a broadcast signal will be produced for every match. Sky will show selected games in the early rounds and all matches from the quarter-finals; ARD and ZDF will carry one match per round, including a semi-final and the final. Other fixtures are set to be available through DFB platforms.
That is not a cosmetic change. A cup built around lower-league stories only works nationally if supporters can see those stories before the semi-finals.
Who are the eventual favourites?
Bayern Munich and Wolfsburg will remain the reference points when they enter in September. Bayern completed the domestic double last season; Wolfsburg’s cup record means they are never a secondary character in this competition. Eintracht Frankfurt, Hoffenheim, Leverkusen and the rest of the expanded 14-team Bundesliga field will enter with their own ambitions.
Those arguments can wait until the September draw. The play-offs offer something less polished and more appealing: 16 knockout ties at grounds where reaching the main round genuinely matters. The final is in Cologne on 17 May. The cup begins a long way from there.
Follow the competition on the WomenLiveScore DFB-Pokal Frauen hub.
Featured image: Ewa Pajor playing for Wolfsburg in the 2018 DFB-Pokal final. Photo by El Loko Foto, licensed under CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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