The 2014–15 DFB-Pokal was the 72nd season of the annual German football cup competition. It began on 15 August 2014 with the first of six rounds and ended on 30 May 2015 with the final at the Olympiastadion in Berlin.

Bayern Munich was the two-time defending champions, having defeated Borussia Dortmund in the 2014 final, but were knocked out in the semi-finals by the same team in a penalty shootout.

VfL Wolfsburg won the final against Dortmund 3–1 to win their first title.

Participating clubs The following 64 teams qualified for the competition:

2013–14 Bundesligaall clubs 2013–14 2. Bundesligaall clubs 2013–14 3. Ligabest four teams 1899 Hoffenheim FC Augsburg Bayer Leverkusen Bayern Munich Borussia Dortmund Borussia Mönchengladbach Eintracht Braunschweig Eintracht Frankfurt SC Freiburg Hamburger SV Hannover 96 Hertha BSC Mainz 05 1. FC Nürnberg Schalke 04 VfB Stuttgart Werder Bremen VfL Wolfsburg 1860 Munich VfR Aalen Arminia Bielefeld VfL Bochum Dynamo Dresden Fortuna Düsseldorf Energie Cottbus Erzgebirge Aue FSV Frankfurt Greuther Fürth FC Ingolstadt Karlsruher SC 1. FC Kaiserslautern 1. FC Köln SC Paderborn SV Sandhausen FC St. Pauli Union Berlin 1. FC Heidenheim RB Leipzig SV Darmstadt 98 SV Wehen Wiesbaden 24 representatives of regional associations, qualified through the 2013–14 Verbandspokale1 North Baden Cup finalists: FC Astoria Walldorf Bavarian Cup winners1: Würzburger Kickers 2nd Regionalliga Bayern 2013–14: FV Illertissen1,3 Berlin Cup winners: FC Viktoria 1889 Berlin Brandenburg Cup winners: FSV Optik Rathenow Bremen Cup winners: Bremer SV Hamburg Cup winners: USC Paloma Hesse Cup winners: Kickers Offenbach2 Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Cup winners: 1. FC Neubrandenburg 04 Middle Rhine Cup winners: FC Viktoria Köln Lower Rhine Cup winners: MSV Duisburg Lower Saxony Cup finalists1: FT Braunschweig Lower Saxony Cup finalists1: BSV Schwarz-Weiß Rehden Rhineland Cup winners: Eintracht Trier Saarland Cup winners: FC 08 Homburg Saxony Cup winners: Chemnitzer FC Saxony-Anhalt Cup winners: 1. FC Magdeburg Schleswig-Holstein Cup winners: Holstein Kiel South Baden Cup winners: SV Waldkirch South West Cup winners: SV Alemannia Waldalgesheim Thuringia Cup winners: FC Carl Zeiss Jena Westphalia Cup finalists1: Preußen Münster Westphalia Cup finalists1: Sportfreunde Siegen Württemberg Cup winners: Stuttgarter Kickers 1 The three regions with the most participating teams in their league competitions (Bavaria, Lower Saxony, Westphalia) are allowed to enter two teams for the competition. 2 As Hesse finalists SV Darmstadt 98 qualified through their league position, Kickers Offenbach were guaranteed a spot regardless of the final result. 3 FV Illertissen qualified as 2nd placed team in the 2013–14 Regionalliga Bayern as winners Bayern Munich II are ineligible to play in the DFB-Pokal.

Schedule The rounds of the 2014–15 competition were scheduled as follows: First round: 15–18 August 2014 Second round: 28–29 October 2014 Round of 16: 3–4 March 2015 Quarter-finals: 7–8 April 2015 Semi-finals: 28–29 April 2015 Final: 30 May 2015 at Olympiastadion, Berlin

Draw The draws for the different rounds were conducted as following: For the first round, the participating teams were split into two pots. The first pot contained all teams which had qualified through their regional cup competitions, the best four teams of the 3. Liga and the bottom four teams of the 2. Bundesliga. Every team from this pot was drawn to a team from the second pot, which contained all remaining professional teams. The teams from the first pot were set as the home team in the process.

The two-pot scenario was also applied for the second round, with the remaining 3. Liga/amateur teams in the first pot and the remaining professional teams in the other pot. Once one pot was empty, the remaining pairings were drawn from the other pot with the first-drawn team for a match serving as hosts. For the remaining rounds, the draw was conducted from just one pot. Any remaining 3. Liga/amateur team was the home team if drawn against a professional team. In every other case, the first-drawn team served as hosts.

Matches

First round The draw for the first round was on 1 June. Fernanda Brandão and Horst Hrubesch drew the matches.

Second round The draw for the second round was held on 23 August. Marcus Sorg and Vanessa Huppenkothen drew the matches. The lowest ranked teams left in the competition were Würzburger Kickers, 1. FC Magdeburg and Kickers Offenbach from the fourth tier of German football

Round of 16 The draw for the round of 16 was held on 29 October. Horst Hrubesch and Judith Rakers drew the matches. The lowest ranked team left in the competition was Kickers Offenbach from level four in German football

Quarter-finals The draw was made on 8 March 2015. Thomas Schneider and Nia Künzer drew the matches. The lowest ranked team left in the competition was Arminia Bielefeld from the 3. Liga, the third level in German football. The matches will be played on 7–8 April 2015.

Semi-finals The draw was made on 8 April 2015. Horst Hrubesch and Rico Weiler drew the pairings. The lowest ranked team left in the competition was Arminia Bielefeld from the 3. Liga, the third level in German football. The matches were played on 28–29 April 2015.

Final

Bracket The following is the bracket which the DFB-Pokal resembled. Numbers in parentheses next to the match score represent the results of a penalty shoot-out. Teams that are bolded advanced on. If "aet" is in parentheses next to a team name, it means that they advanced after extra time. If "p" is in parentheses next to a team name, it means that they advanced after a penalty shoot-out.

Top goalscorers

The following are the top scorers of the DFB-Pokal, sorted first by number of goals, and then alphabetically if necessary. Goals scored in penalty shoot-outs are not included.

Rank Player Team Goals 1 Stefan Kießling Bayer Leverkusen 6 Sven Schipplock 1899 Hoffenheim 3 Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang Borussia Dortmund 5 4 Luiz Gustavo VfL Wolfsburg 4 5 David Alaba Bayern Munich 3 Justin Eilers Dynamo Dresden Roberto Firmino 1899 Hoffenheim Philipp Hofmann Kaiserslautern Ciro Immobile Borussia Dortmund Manuel Junglas Arminia Bielefeld Admir Mehmedi SC Freiburg Rubin Okotie 1860 München Simon Terodde VfL Bochum

References

External links DFB-Pokal on kicker.de