The DFB Cup is becoming a little confusing for the fans. The 1st round (you can also follow all games in the WELT sports ticker) begins this Friday at 6 p.m. with three games (Dynamo Dresden – VfB Stuttgart/6 p.m., 1. FC Kaan-Marienborn – 1. FC Nuremberg / 6 p.m., TSG Neustrelitz - Karlsruher SC / 6 p.m., 1860 Munich - Borussia Dortmund / 8.45 p.m.) runs for three more days - and only ends on the last day of the following month with FC Bayern Munich's guest appearance at Viktoria Köln (August 31 ). The reason for the fragmentation is the new media contract, which in return gives football fans more live broadcasts on free TV than ever before.
ARD and ZDF have secured a total of 15 games in the national cup competition per season. The contract with the DFB is valid until 2025/26. That's two more games than previously broadcast on Erste and Sport1. In addition, the two public broadcasters are allowed to broadcast extensive highlight programs. The rights acquired by ARD and ZDF also include clip exploitation on the Internet. There are also highlights of all games from 6 a.m. the following day on Sport1.
On Friday, ZDF will broadcast the duel between third division club 1860 Munich and runners-up Borussia Dortmund. Then there are summaries of the other games. On Monday, ARD will be broadcast live and will show the game between second division promoted team 1. FC Magdeburg and Europa League winners Eintracht Frankfurt live. The first shows summaries on Saturday (6 p.m.) and on Sunday (10:05 p.m.).
If you want free choice, you still need a subscription. The pay channel Sky is the only provider to show all 63 games of the DFB Cup, 48 of which are exclusive. Fans have to book the sports package for this. This costs EUR 17.25 for new customers in the first year, then EUR 25.00 per month. However, this does not include Bundesliga games. Highlights of all games are also available from midnight on the fee-based Internet provider DAZN.
The last two games of the 1st round will be played on the last two days of the coming month. The reason is that cup winners RB Leipzig and champions FC Bayern Munich meet in the Supercup on Saturday, Sat.1 broadcasts live. On August 30th, ZDF will show the RB guest appearance at regional league FC Teutonia 05 Ottensen. A day later, ARD is on the air when third division club FC Viktoria Köln has FC Bayern Munich as guests.
The DFB has increased the income from the exploitation of rights by more than 20 percent per season, as stated in a statement without further details. According to estimates, the association received around 55 million euros per season from the old TV contract. Including foreign marketing and sponsoring, the DFB is taking in almost 100 million euros this season, according to dpa information. The increase in revenue comes at a price, because the competition has been fragmented for it. There are new kick-off times and the round of 16 matches have been spread over two weeks.
The Cup competition is more popular with TV viewers than the Bundesliga, figures from 2021 show. Last year's top figure was the final with 9.57 million viewers on ARD. Three other DFB Cup broadcasts had more TV viewers than the most successful Bundesliga game with 6.17 million.
