DFB-Pokal Review: Freiburg, Darmstadt and Cottbus progress

One club each from the Bundesliga, 2. Bundesliga and 3. Liga joined the teams already qualified for the next round of the DFB-Pokal.

Three more teams qualified for the second round of the DFB-Pokal on Saturday night.

Sportfreunde Lotte 0-2 SC Freiburg

Julian Schuster became the first local coach to win the German Football Manager of the Year award since his predecessor Christian Streich won it in 2022, and he started his second season with Freiburg with a comfortable Pokal victory.

Fourth-tier Sportfreunde Lotte were their first opponents in a season Freiburg will return to the continental stage. Eren Dinkçi and Lucas Höler scored the goals either side of the half-time break.

FC Energie Cottbus 1-0 Hannover 96

Since reaching the semi-final in the 2010/11 season, Cottbus had only progressed from the first round of the cup once. They finally escaped an early exit thanks to Tolcay Cigerci’s goal in the 12th minute.

The former Hamburg and Wolfsburg midfielder also scored a brace when Cottbus opened their 3. Liga campaign with a 3-3 draw against Saarbrücken. Boris Tomiak missed a golden chance to score Hannover’s equalizer when he failed to convert a first-half penalty-kick.

VfB Lübeck 1-2 SV Darmstadt 98

As opposed to Nürnberg, Darmstadt won each of their first three games of the season. Florian Kohfeldt’s side avoided a late scare against their fourth-tier hosts. Matej Maglica and Fraser Hornby, who both played Bundesliga football at the Böllenfalltor in the 2023/24 season, scored the goals for Darmstadt.