The 1980–81 DFB-Pokal was the 38th season of the annual German football cup competition.
It began on 27 August 1980 and ended on 2 May 1981.
In the final, FC Kaiserslautern was defeated by Eintracht Frankfurt (3–1) who were awarded the trophy for the third time.
[1] Despite losing in the quarter-finals, Hamburger SV set an all-time record by scoring 36 goals in the competition.
Fortuna Düsseldorf set an all-time record of 18 consecutive cup-match victories since 1978, despite losing in the quarter-finals.