2016–17 DFB-Pokal
| German Cup | |||
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| Country | Germany | ||
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| Dates | 19 August 2016 – 27 May 2017 | ||
| Championship venue | Olympiastadion, Berlin | ||
| Teams | 64 | ||
| Matches played | 60 | ||
| Goals scored | 190 (3.17 per match) | ||
| Attendance | 1,191,330 (19,856 per match) | ||
| Top goal scorer(s) | Robert Lewandowski (5 goals) |
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| All statistics correct as of 14 March 2017. Goals scored in penalty shoot-outs not included. |
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The 2016–17 DFB-Pokal is the 74th season of the annual German football cup competition. Sixty-four teams are participating in the competition, including all teams from the previous year's Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It began on 19 August 2016 with the first of six rounds and will end on 27 May 2017 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 defending champions are Bundesliga side Bayern Munich, after they beat Borussia Dortmund 4–3 on penalties in the previous final.
The winner of the DFB-Pokal earns automatic qualification for the group stage of the 2017–18 edition of the UEFA Europa League. If they have already qualified for the UEFA Champions League through position in the Bundesliga, then the spot will go to the team in sixth, and the league's third qualifying round spot will go to the team in seventh. The winner also will host the DFL-Supercup at the start of the next season, and will face the champion of the 2015–16 Bundesliga, unless the same team wins the Bundesliga and the DFB-Pokal, completing a double. In that case, the runner up of the Bundesliga will take the spot and host instead.
The following 64 teams qualified for the competition:
The DFB-Pokal begins with a round of 64 teams. The 36 teams of the Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga, along with the top 4 finishers of the 3. Liga are automatically qualified for the tournament. Of the remaining slots, 21 are given to the cup winners of the regional football associations, the Verbandspokal. The 3 remaining slots are given to the three regional associations with the most men's teams, which currently is Bavaria, Lower Saxony, and Westphalia. The runner-up of the Lower Saxony Cup is given the slot, along with the best-placed amateur team of the Regionalliga Bayern. For Westphalia, the winner of a play-off between the best-placed team of the Regionalliga West and Oberliga Westfalen also qualify. As every team is entitled to participate in local tournaments which qualify for the association cups, every team can in principle compete in the DFB-Pokal. Reserve teams and combined football sections are not permitted to enter, along with no two teams of the same association or corporation.
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