After promotion, FC Gütersloh also won the Westfalenpokal. The reward: a second-division team will come to Gütersloh in the DFB Cup. These are the reactions.

It has been 24 years since FC Gütersloh was last represented in the DFB Cup. Now the time has come again. After promotion to the Regionalliga West, FCG also won the Westfalenpokal.

Sports director Rob Reekers, team assistant Rene Harder and the two board members Frank Neuhaus and Helmut Delker watched the draw on Sunday on site at the DFB Football Museum in Dortmund.

Everyone was hoping for a really big opponent, but in the end it was second-division team Holstein Kiel. The DFB Cup match will take place between Friday, 11 August, and Monday, 14 August.

Julian Hesse, coach of FC Gütersloh, said after the draw: “Of course we were dreaming of a really big opponent. But now we are looking forward to Holstein Kiel. We have a lot of respect for the work they do there. The Störche have been playing in the second Bundesliga without interruption for six years and have already qualified twice for the relegation to the Bundesliga. This is a club that has developed quietly. The eighth place in the past season once again shows the consistency that the club has achieved in the second Bundesliga. We want to give Holstein Kiel a good fight and then we’ll see what’s possible.”

Kiel, who caused a sensation in the 2020/21 cup season when they beat Bayern Munich, will naturally go into the match as heavy favourites. Uwe Stöver, managing director of sport at Holstein Kiel, emphasises: “We are looking forward to what will certainly be a highly motivated opponent. After the championship in the Oberliga Westfalen and winning the Westfalenpokal, FC Gütersloh is still carried by this euphoria, especially at the beginning of the season – we must always keep that in mind and not take the game lightly. Nevertheless, and I say this quite clearly, it is our ambition to live up to our role as favourites and to progress to the next round.”

These are all 32 DFB Cup matches:

Eintracht Braunschweig – FC Schalke 04

Arminia Bielefeld – VfL Bochum

TuS Bersenbrück – Borussia Mönchengladbach

SV Oberachern – SC Freiburg

FC Gütersloh – Holstein Kiel

1st FC Saarbrücken – Karlsruher SC

FC Carl Zeiss Jena – Hertha BSC

Teutonia Ottensen – Bayer Leverkusen

SV Wehen Wiesbaden – RB Leipzig

FSV Frankfurt – Hansa Rostock

FC Viktoria Cologne – SV Werder Bremen

FC Astoria Walldorf – 1. FC Union Berlin

1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig – Eintracht Frankfurt

SV Elversberg – FSV Mainz 05

Rot-Weiss Essen – Hamburger SV

TSV Schott Mainz – Borussia Dortmund

TSG Balingen – VfB Stuttgart

VfB Lübeck – TSG Hoffenheim

FC Oberneuland – 1. FC Nuremberg

FC Energie Cottbus – SC Paderborn

SSV Jahn Regensburg – 1. FC Magdeburg

SC Preußen Münster – FC Bayern Munich

Rostock FC – 1. FC Heidenheim

SpVgg Unterhaching – FC Augsburg

Rot-Weiß Koblenz – 1. FC Kaiserslautern

Maccabi Berlin – VfL Wolfsburg

FV Illertissen – Fortuna Düsseldorf

SV Atlas Delmenhorst – FC St. Pauli

VfL Osnabrück – 1. FC Cologne

SV Sandhausen – Hannover 96

Hallescher FC – Greuther Fürth

FC 08 Homburg – SV Darmstadt 98