The 2023–24 DFB-Pokal was the 81st season of the annual German football cup competition. Sixty-four teams participated in the competition, including all teams from the previous year’s Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga. The competition began on 11 August 2023 with the first of six rounds and ended on 25 May 2024 with the final at the Olympiastadion in Berlin, a nominally neutral venue, which has hosted the final since 1985. The DFB-Pokal is considered the second-most important club title in German football after the Bundesliga championship. The DFB-Pokal is run by the German Football Association (DFB).
The two-time defending champions were Bundesliga side RB Leipzig, after they had defeated Eintracht Frankfurt 2–0 in the previous final, but they were eliminated in the second round by VfL Wolfsburg. Bayer Leverkusen won their second title by defeating 1. FC Kaiserslautern 1–0 in the final.
Champions: 
Bayer Leverkusen (2nd title)
Runner-up: 
1. FC Kaiserslautern
Top Goal Scorer: 
Amine Adli (5 goals)
DFB-Pokal 2023-24 Round of 16 matches
The draw for the round of 16 was held on 5 November 2023, with Denise Schindler drawing the matches.
Date Team 1 Result Team 2
5 December 2023 1. FC Kaiserslautern2–0 
1. FC Nürnberg
5 December 2023 
1. FC Magdeburg1–2 
Fortuna Düsseldorf
5 December 2023 
Borussia Mönchengladbach1–0 (a.e.t.) 
VfL Wolfsburg
5 December 2023 
FC 08 Homburg1–4 
FC St. Pauli
6 December 2023 
1. FC Saarbrücken2–0 
Eintracht Frankfurt
6 December 2023 Bayer Leverkusen3–1 
SC Paderborn
6 December 2023 
VfB Stuttgart2–0 
Borussia Dortmund
6 December 2023 
Hertha BSC3–3
5–3 (penalties)
Hamburger SV
DFB-Pokal 2023-24 Quarter final matches
The draw for the quarter-finals was held on 10 December 2023, with Jens Nowotny drawing the matches.
Date Team 1 Result Team 2
30 January 2024 FC St. Pauli2–2 (a.e.t.)
3–4 (penalties) Fortuna Düsseldorf
31 January 2024 Hertha BSC1–3 1. FC Kaiserslautern
6 February 2024 Bayer Leverkusen3–2 VfB Stuttgart
12 March 2024 1. FC Saarbrücken2–1 Borussia Mönchengladbach
DFB-Pokal 2023-24 Semi final matches
The draw for the semi-finals was held on 11 February 2024, with Béla Réthy drawing the matches.
Date Team 1 Result Team 2
2 April 2024 1. FC Saarbrücken0–2 1. FC Kaiserslautern
3 April 2024 Bayer Leverkusen4–0 Fortuna Düsseldorf
DFB-Pokal 2023-24 Final match
25 May 2024 20:00 CEST, Olympiastadion, Berlin
| 1. FC Kaiserslautern |
0 – 1 | Bayer Leverkusen |
Granit Xhaka  16′ |
DFB-Pokal 2023-24 Top Goal scorers
Rank Player Club Goals
1 Amine Adli Bayer Leverkusen5
2 
Filip Bilbija SC Paderborn4
3 Marcel Hartel FC St. Pauli4
4 Fabian Reese Hertha BSC4
5 Kai Brünker 1. FC Saarbrücken3
6 Robin Hack Borussia Mönchengladbach3
7 
Adam Hložek Bayer Leverkusen3
8 
Bakery Jatta Hamburger SV3
9 
Ísak Jóhannesson Fortuna Düsseldorf3
10 
Haris Tabaković Hertha BSC3
11 Richmond Tachie 1. FC Kaiserslautern3
12 
Can Uzun 1. FC Nürnberg3
13 Florian Wirtz Bayer Leverkusen3
DFB-Pokal 2023-24 Fact
The winner of the DFB-Pokal earned automatic qualification for the group stage of the 2024–25 edition of the UEFA Europa League. If they have already qualified for the UEFA Champions League through position in the Bundesliga, then the spot went to the team in sixth, and the league’s UEFA Conference League play-off round spot went to the team in seventh. The winners will also host the 2024 edition of the DFL-Supercup at the start of the next season, and will face the champions of the 2023–24 Bundesliga.
DFB-Pokal Participation
The DFB-Pokal began with a round of 64 teams. The 36 teams of the Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga, along with the top four finishers of the 3. Liga automatically qualified for the tournament. Of the remaining slots, 21 were given to the cup winners of the regional football associations, the Verbandspokal. The three remaining slots were given to the three regional associations with the most men’s teams, which were Bavaria, Lower Saxony and Westphalia. The best-placed amateur team of the Regionalliga Bayern was given the spot for Bavaria. For Lower Saxony, the Lower Saxony Cup was split into two paths: one for 3. Liga and Regionalliga Nord teams, and the other for amateur teams. The winners of each path qualified. For Westphalia, the spot was rotated each season between the best-placed Westphalian team of the Regionalliga West and the best-placed amateur team of the Oberliga Westfalen. For the 2023–24 DFB-Pokal, this spot was awarded to a team from the Regionalliga. As every team was entitled to participate in local tournaments which qualified for the association cups, every team could in principle compete in the DFB-Pokal. Reserve teams and combined football sections were not permitted to enter, along with no two teams of the same association or corporation.
DFB-Pokal 2023-24 Draw
For the first round, the participating teams were split into two pots of 32 teams each. The first pot contained all teams which qualified through their regional cup competitions, the best four teams of the 3. Liga, and the bottom four teams of the 2. Bundesliga. Every team from this pot was drawn to a team from the second pot, which contained all remaining professional teams (all the teams of the Bundesliga and the remaining fourteen 2. Bundesliga teams). The teams from the first pot were set as the home team in the process.
The two-pot scenario was also applied for the second round, with the remaining 3. Liga and/or amateur team(s) in the first pot and the remaining Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga teams in the other pot. Once again, the 3. Liga and/or amateur team(s) served as hosts. This time the pots did not have to be of equal size though, depending on the results of the first round. Theoretically, it was even possible that there could be only one pot, if all of the teams from one of the pots from the first round beat all the others in the second pot. Once one pot was empty, the remaining pairings were drawn from the other pot with the first-drawn team for a match serving as hosts.
For the remaining rounds, the draw was conducted from just one pot. Any remaining 3. Liga and/or amateur team(s) were the home team if drawn against a professional team. In every other case, the first-drawn team served as hosts.
