The regional cups repeatedly offer lower-division teams an attractive opportunity to qualify for the DFB Cup. Some associations are already quite far ahead.

Phew, that was a close call for SV Sandhausen. The third division team had to play against the regional league representative Astoria Walldorf in the Baden regional cup – an unpleasant draw.

It quickly became clear that this was not just the case on paper. On the map, the two clubs are only a few kilometers apart, and there were not many differences on the pitch either. The first notable one was created by Sebastian Stolze when he scored the favorite’s goal in the 76th minute.

But Walldorf did not give up, quite the opposite. Jonas Arcalean took responsibility in the 85th minute, stepped up to take the penalty and equalized from the spot. Just when it looked like it would go into extra time, Emmanuel Iwe came on.

The American only joined Sandhausen in the summer and saved the favorites in the second minute of stoppage time. Thanks to the 2-1 victory, SV Sandhausen can actually call themselves semi-finalists as early as mid-October.

All of the quarterfinals in the Baden State Cup have already been played. SV Pforzheim (1:0 against DJK-FC Ziegelhausen/Peterstal) and 1. FC Bruchsal (3:0 against SpVgg Durlach-Aue) also advanced. The fourth team is VfR Gommersdorf, a Landesliga team. They recently caused a huge upset.

At the beginning of September, Gommersdorf knocked third division team Waldhof Mannheim out of the cup. SV Waldhof Mannheim was the better team from the start, but was unable to take its chances. VfR Gommersdorf, on the other hand, was completely different. Jan Reuther scored a dream goal just before the hour mark, putting the team from Gommersdorf surprisingly in the lead.

The Mannheim team had promising opportunities in the aftermath, but to no avail. Kelvin Arase managed to get the ball into the goal in injury time, but the goal was disallowed due to an offside situation.

These teams are already in the semi-finals of the national cup

Baden: VfR Gommersdorf (Landesliga), Türkischer SV Pforzheim (Verbandsliga), 1. FC Bruchsal (Verbandsliga), SV Sandhausen (3. Liga)

Bavaria: FC Eintracht Bamberg (Regionalliga Bayern), FC Ingolstadt (3. Liga)

Lower Saxony – professionals: Kickers Emden (North Regional League), VfL Osnabrück (3rd division), Blau-Weiß Lohne (North Regional League), SSV Jeddeloh II (North Regional League)

Lower Saxony amateurs: HSC Hannover (Upper League), VfV 06 Hildesheim (Upper League), TuS Bersebrück (Upper League), Atlas Delmenhorst (Upper League)