Wolfsburg vs. Hoffenheim preview: Team news and predicted lineups

Wolfsburg host Hoffenheim at the Volkswagen Arena in the third round of the DFB-Pokal in a bid to repeat the glory of their 2015 trophy victory.

Both Wolfsburg and Hoffenheim have failed to make it past the last-16 stage of the Pokal since 2021 and 2015 respectively. 

In the Bundesliga, Wolfsburg seem to be on track to return to Europe this season and this can be proven by their impressive 5-1 win over Champions League side RB Leipzig on Saturday.

Hoffenheim, in contrast, have struggled so far this season and sacked their manager Pellegrino Matarazzo just three weeks ago.

Since then, victory over RB Leipzig has liftened the mood around the club slightly but a poor result against Mainz on the weekend leaves them two points off the bottom three heading into the next game week.

This year, both sides have struggled at times in the competition with Hoffenheim narrowly making it through the first round thanks to a penalty shootout win over Würzburger Kickers.

Similarly, Wolfsburg only managed one goal in a narrow win over TuS Koblenz in their first game of the competition.

Despite this, an impressive win for die Wölfe in the second round against Borussia Dortmund in extra-time might give them more hope than Hoffenheim ahead of this game. 

Ahead of the tie, Wolfsburg coach Ralph Hasenhüttl said: “One should have the dream (of winning the cup) in the back of the head. It is always comforting to know that one’s team is performing well in the league and is still in the cup.”

Before the game, Hoffenheim coach Christian Ilzer said: “Wolfsburg has a lot of pace in attack. The team has found itself and is on a run. More important, however, is that we show a better quality than against Mainz on the weeekend.”

Team news

Sebastiaan Bornauw, Rogerio and Aster Vranckx are all injured for Wednesday’s game.

Keeper Niklas Klinger will also miss the tie for Hasenhüttl’s side.

Ozan Kabak, Christopher Lenz and Florian Grillitsch are all out for Hoffenheim.

Grischa Promel and Finn Becker are also unavailable for the away side alongside Marius Bülter and Ihlas Bebou.

Predicted Lineups

Wolfsburg: Grabara – Fischer, Vavro, Koulierakis, Maehle – Dardai, Arnold – Baku, Wimmer, Amoura – Kaminski

Hoffenheim: Baumann – Kaderabek, Chaves, Nsoki, Prass – Stach, Bischof – Hlozek, Kramariz, Larsen – Tabakovic