The first round of the DFB Junior Cup has been drawn. BVB, Schalke, Bochum, Duisburg, and RWE will face the following clubs.
The draw has been made: The pairings for the first round of the 2025/26 DFB Junior Cup have been decided. The 32 first-round matches were drawn on Thursday at the DFB Campus in Frankfurt. Hannes Wolf, U20 national coach and DFB director of youth, coaching, and development, was the “lucky draw.”
For the first time, 64 clubs will take part in this competition, with the association increasing the number of participants from 32 to 64 teams. As a result, there will be an additional second round after the first round before the round of 16 continues. The biggest clubs from the region have also qualified.
Borussia Dortmund’s U19 team will play Alemannia Aachen in the first round, which will be held on August 16 and 17. BVB has never won this trophy and is now making its next attempt under new head coach Felix Hirschnagl, who has taken over from successful coach Mike Tullberg.
FC Schalke’s A-Juniors will face RB Leipzig at home. Last season, Norbert Elgert’s team was knocked out in the quarter-finals. At the Parkstadion in Gelsenkirchen, they were defeated 0-3 by VfL Wolfsburg and were eliminated from the competition.
MSV Duisburg must travel to last year’s Schalke conquerors Wolfsburg. Rot-Weiss Essen drew Eintracht Frankfurt. Like Duisburg, Essen, who lost 3-0 to Hertha BSC in the first round last season, will not be playing at home. VfL Bochum will host Dynamo Dresden.
The field consists of the A-Junior Association Cup winners from the 21 regional associations, the winner of the DFB Junior Cup, the 24 teams from the main round of League A of the U19 DFB Youth League, and the 18 best teams from the main round of League B of the U19 DFB Youth League.
The first round at a glance:
FC Rot-Weiss Koblenz – Holstein Kiel
TSV Großbardorf – Hertha BSC
FV Biebrich 02 – Karlsruher SC
Blumenthaler SV – FC Augsburg
Berliner AK – SV Darmstadt 98
Wormatia Worms – FC Carl Zeiss Jena
SC Borgfeld – 1. FC Kaiserslautern
Lok Leipzig – Hannover 96
Germania Halberstadt – 1. FC Köln
SSV Reutlingen – SC Paderborn
Bonner SC – Wehen Wiesbaden
Hertha Zehlendorf – FC Ingolstadt
1. FC Eichsfeld – 1. FC Heidenheim
FC 08 Villingen – Arminia Bielefeld
Waldhof Mannheim – Stuttgarter Kickers
Hombucher SV – Fortuna Düsseldorf
JFV A/O/B/H/H – 1. FC Magdeburg
Alemannia Aachen – Borussia Dortmund
VfL Wolfsburg – MSV Duisburg
Eintracht Braunschweig – Unterhaching
FC Schalke 04 – RB Leipzig
FSV Frankfurt – VfB Stuttgart
1. FSV Mainz 05 – SC Freiburg
Hansa Rostock – FC Bayern Munich
Bayer 04 Leverkusen – SV Elversberg
Chemnitzer FC – 1. FC Nürnberg
Eintracht Frankfurt – Rot-Weiss Essen
VfL Bochum – Dynamo Dresden
FC St. Pauli – SV Werder Bremen
VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach – 1860 Munich
Hamburger SV – FC Energie Cottbus
1. FC Union Berlin – TSG 1899 Hoffenheim