This is a list of Bundesliga clubs eliminated from the DFB-Pokal by amateur sides. The DFB, the German football association, lists all leagues below the 3. Liga or, until 2008, the 2. Bundesliga, as amateur. Listed are losses of Bundesliga sides, not including the 2. Bundesliga, against teams from the third division (fourth division from 2008) and below. Originally, the German Cup, the DFB-Pokal, was a competition open to clubs from the top divisions of German football only. This continued after the establishment of the Bundesliga in 1963. Semi-professional and amateur clubs could only enter the competition from 1974 onwards, when it was enlarged. Up until 2008, only the top two divisions of German football, the Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga, were fully professional. From 2008, with the establishment of the 3. Liga, the third tier also became fully professional. From the first encounters in 1974–75, the new match ups Bundesliga versus amateurs, most usually third division clubs, became a source of surprising results over the years. Commonly titled the "mother of all cup sensations" (German: Die Mutter aller Pokalsensationen), was Hamburger SV's second round loss to VfB Eppingen in 1974, the first instant of an amateur side knocking out a Bundesliga club. It took until 1990 for a fourth division side to achieve the same, when SpVgg Fürth took Borussia Dortmund out of the competition. Further milestones were the reserve side of Hertha BSC, Hertha BSC Amateure, reaching the cup final in 1993, a first for a third division club and a reserve team. Eintracht Trier, in 1997, overcame both the current UEFA Cup and Champions League winners at the time, knocking Schalke 04 and Borussia Dortmund out of the competition. In 2000, 1. FC Magdeburg became the first fourth division side to eliminate two Bundesliga clubs in one season. Surprise results in the cup attract a strong media coverage in Germany and, at times, abroad. When TSV Vestenbergsgreuth took out Bayern Munich, coached by Giovanni Trapattoni at the time, La Gazzetta dello Sport reported on its front page "Club di dilettanti elimina Trapattoni" ("Amateur club eliminates Trapattoni"). Historical cup defeats, especially of the bigger names like Bayern Munich, are often brought up again in the German press in August each year, when Bundesliga sides travel to meet their amateur opposition once more in the first cup round. (en)
This is a list of Bundesliga clubs eliminated from the DFB-Pokal by amateur sides. The DFB, the German football association, lists all leagues below the 3. Liga or, until 2008, the 2. Bundesliga, as amateur. Listed are losses of Bundesliga sides, not including the 2. Bundesliga, against teams from the third division (fourth division from 2008) and below. (en)