2019–20 DFB-Pokal
[1] The DFB-Pokal is considered the second-most important club title in German football after the Bundesliga championship.
The defending champions were Bundesliga side Bayern Munich, after they defeated RB Leipzig 3–0 in the previous final.
[2] With the win, Bayern completed their second consecutive and 13th domestic double overall, and therefore played at home (in a change of format; under old rules they would have played away as was the case the previous year) to 2019–20 Bundesliga runners-up Borussia Dortmund in the 2020 DFL-Supercup.
[3] On 27 March 2020, the German Football Association (DFB) indefinitely postponed the semi-finals of the competition, originally scheduled for 21 and 22 April, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany.
[7] In addition, five substitutions were permitted for the remaining matches following a proposal from FIFA and approval by IFAB, meant to lessen the impact of fixture congestion.
[8][9][10] The following 64 teams qualified for the competition: Baden Bavaria[note 5] Berlin Brandenburg Bremen Hamburg Hesse Lower Rhine Lower Saxony[note 8] Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Middle Rhine Rhineland Saarland Saxony Saxony-Anhalt Schleswig-Holstein South Baden Southwest Thuringia Westphalia[note 10] Württemberg The DFB-Pokal began with a round of 64 teams.
Of the remaining slots, 21 were given to the cup winners of the regional football associations, the Verbandspokal.
The three remaining slots were given to the three regional associations with the most men's teams, which were Bavaria, Lower Saxony and Westphalia.
For Westphalia, the winner of a play-off between the best-placed team of the Regionalliga West and Oberliga Westfalen also qualified.
If still tied after regulation, 30 minutes of extra time were played, consisting of two periods of 15 minutesceach.
[12] From the round of 16 onward, a video assistant referee was appointed for all DFB-Pokal matches.
[10] If a player received five yellow cards in the competition, he was then suspended from the next cup match.
Similarly, receiving a second yellow card suspended a player from the next cup match.
If a player received a direct red card, they were suspended a minimum of one match, but the German Football Association reserved the right to increase the suspension.
[11] The winners of the DFB-Pokal typically earned automatic qualification for the group stage of next year's edition of the UEFA Europa League.
All draws were held at the German Football Museum in Dortmund, on a Sunday evening at 18:00 after each round (unless noted otherwise).
FC Saarbrücken of the Regionalliga Südwest became the first fourth-division club in the history of the DFB-Pokal to reach the semi-finals of the competition.
