DFB-Pokal round one - Friday Konferenz preview  | OneFootball

FC Gütersloh vs Union Berlin

FC Gütersloh, the side from North Rhine-Westphalia who are currently playing in the Regionalliga West, welcome Bundesliga side Union Berlin in what promises to be one of the club’s most memorable occasions. The fixture comes just days after Gütersloh celebrated their 25th anniversary, making the night even more special for players, staff, and fans.

Julian Hesse’s side have started the season brightly, beating Rot-Weiß Oberhausen 2-0 before overcoming FC Bocholt 6-3 in a nine goal thriller at home. Their first setback came last weekend with a 1-3 defeat against Düsseldorf II, leaving them fifth in the table after three matches as they aim to improve on last season's 2nd-place finish and achieve promotion to the third tier. Despite the gulf in divisions, Hesse insists his team will embrace the challenge, describing the draw as “a football holiday for our city.”

For Union Berlin, this marks the start of competitive action for 2025/26 as Steffen Baumgart and his squad look to build on last season’s 13th-place Bundesliga finish. Pre-season was far from smooth, with four consecutive 0-1 defeats to end preparations. However, they will hope a meeting with fourth-tier opposition can reinstate some confidence going forward.

Union have added six new signings this summer - Andrej Ilic, Woo-Yeong Jeong, Ilyas Ansah, Oliver Burke, Stanley Nsoki, and Matheo Raab - who will all be pushing for early opportunities to impress.

On paper, it’s a meeting of opposites: Gütersloh’s reported 848 members versus Union’s nearly 70,000. Yet once the whistle blows, those numbers count for little. A sell-out crowd of over 10,000 at Ohlendorf Stadium at Heidewald will roar the hosts on as they harbour hopes of an upset in what is the first ever meeting between the clubs. Union haven’t progressed beyond the second round since 2023/24, while Gütersloh are chasing a first-ever appearance in round two.

Team news

Gütersloh remain without Kevin Hoffmeier (cruciate ligament tear) and Lennard Rolf (inflammation of pubic bone). Goalkeeper Jarno Peters who missed the weekend game vs Dusseldörf II is expected to be fit should Hesse call upon the 32-year-old.

Union could be without several regulars: Diogo Leite, Josip Juranović, and Lucas Tousart all missed the final friendly and have not trained this week. Livan Burcu is also likely out, while new signing Stanley Nsoki faces a fitness race to make his debut.

Predicted line-ups

FC Gütersloh (4-3-3): Matuschewsky (GK) - Arkenberg, Henke, Winke, Lafner - Rother, Liehr, Kandic - Langfeld, Twardzik, Frieling

Union Berlin (3-4-3): Rönnow (GK) - Doekhi, Rothe, Querfeld - Trimmel, Khedira, Haberer, Schäfer - Ilic, Ansah, Burke

SG Sonnenhof Großaspach vs Bayer Leverkusen

Sonnenhof Großaspach are coming off the back of a very impressive 2024-25 campaign under Pascal Reinhardt which saw them runaway with the Oberliga Baden-Württemberg title, finishing top with 95 points resulting in promotion to the Regionalliga Südwest. In fact, the club are able to boast an emphatic double winning season as they also won the WFV-Pokal, defeating TSG Balingen 2-0 in the final to secure their place in the DFB-Pokal this season.

Their form has carried into this season: five wins from five in pre-season, followed by emphatic 6-1 and 4-1 victories against TSG Balingen and Astoria Walldorf in the Regionalliga Südwest. Top of the table after two matches, they head into this tie full of belief that an upset is possible.

Bayer Leverkusen are embarking on a new journey under Erik ten Hag after the departure of Xabi Alonso, with Friday’s game marking his first professional game in charge. Despite making a disastrous start to pre-season in a 5-1 loss to Flamengo U20’s, results steadied and so did the performances with Die Werkself winning their next three games against VfL Bochum, Fortuna Sittard and Pisa before rounding off the preparations with a 2-0 loss to Chelsea.

Much like the change in the dugout, the squad has gone through a slight overhaul following high profile departures such as that of Jeremie Frimpong, Jonathan Tah, Granit Xhaxa, Lukas Hradecky and of course Florian Wirtz record breaking move to Liverpool. However, heavy reinvestment has followed as they strive to give ten Hag the chance to emulate the success of recent years. Eleven new arrivals have joined the squad, most notably Jarrell Quansah (Liverpool), Malik Tillman (PSV), Ibrahim Maza (Hertha BSC) and Mark Flekken (Brentford).

Friday’s game is only Großaspach’s third entry into the DFB-Pokal as they look to make it past the first round for the first time in club history. Leverkusen, semi-finalists last season and 2023/24 winners, will expect to progress with ten Hag looking to set the tone for his tenure and begin the path to his first trophy with the club.

Team news

After a nasty injury in the game away to Astoria Walldorf which resulted in a broken arm, Elias Rahn will be sidelined for a while. Other than that, Reinhardt will be happy that Großaspach have a near clean bill of health approaching one of the biggest ties in the club's history.

Erik ten Hag is likely to be without four players for the Pokal match. Jonas Hoffmann (Hamstring), Exequiel Palacios (Hamstring), Arthur (Knee) and €35m summer signing Malik Tillman (Calf) are all set to miss out.

Predicted line-ups

Sonnenhof Großaspach (4-4-2): Reule (GK) - Landwehr, Aidonis, Nuraj, Mohr - Mistl, Celiktas, Lo. Maier, Tasdelen - Kleinschrodt, Eisele

Bayer Leverkusen (3-4-3): Flekken (GK) - Tapsoba, Hincapié, Quansah - Tella, Andrich, García, Grimaldo - Maza, Schick, Kofane

1. FC Saarbrücken vs 1. FC Magdeburg

FC Saarbrücken entered the new season licking their wounds after an agonising 2-4 extra-time aggregate loss at the hands of Eintracht Braunschweig in the 2.Bundesliga relegation/promotion playoff. Nevertheless, the club from Saarland remains confident and ready to go again under head coach Alois Schwartz. They have made some shrewd signings for a 3. Liga side with experienced heads Robin Bormuth and Florian Pick both joining on free transfers.

Saarbrücken have made a steady start to their 3. Liga campaign, picking up four points with one draw and one win in two games leaving them in sixth place heading into Friday's game. They began the season with a defensively shaky 3-3 draw in Cottbus before producing a much more astute display last time out in a 2-1 win at home to Viktoria Köln. Speaking ahead of the game, Schwartz said: “It's a great competition; we're approaching the task with joy and courage. We're confident and have earned four points. We know that we have to improve our game. But on Friday we want to show joy and play without pressure. It's clear that we will have to suffer a lot, but we're prepared for that”.

As semi finalists twice in their last four Pokal campaigns, they will smell blood here as they welcome FC Magdeburg to the Ludwigspark Stadion knowing they are well-versed in upsetting sides from higher divisions.

FC Magdeburg are entering something of a transitional year for the club, after the departure of head coach Christian Titz to Hannover 96, Markus Fiedler is now the man tasked with continuing the clubs steady rise whilst chasing that historic first promotion to the Bundesliga.

A poor 1-0 home loss to Braunschweig on opening day drew criticism with fingers pointing towards the quiet transfer window so far, with only Laurin Ulrich and Noah Pesch arriving on loan. However, new signings Kandet Diawara and Rayan Ghrieb joined before a morale-boosting 2-1 ‘Elb-Clasico’ win at Dynamo Dresden giving fans renewed optimism for the season ahead.

The last four meetings between the clubs are evenly split with two wins each. Saarbrücken will be hoping to draw inspiration from their famous 2023/24 cup run - beating Bayern Munich, Eintracht Frankfurt, and Borussia Mönchengladbach on their way to the semi-final - while Magdeburg are seeking to progress past round one, having only done so on one other occasion since the 2018/19 season.

Team news

Saarbrücken are still some way from having a clean bill of health - Richard Neudecker, Patrick Sontheimer, Sebastian Vasiliadis, Phillip Fahrner and Amine Naïfi remain out for Schwartz’s side.

For Magdeburg, Samuel Loric, Alexander Nollenberger, Philipp Hercher, Abu El-Zein and Tarek Chahed all miss out due to injury. Marcus Mathisen is away from the team due to the birth of his first child whilst youngster Magnus Baars is suffering from illness.

Predicted line-ups

FC Saarbrücken (3-4-1-2): Menzel (GK) - Wilhelm, Bichsel, Sonnenberg - Rizzuto, Civeja, Zeitz, Bretschneider - Pick - Brünker, Elongo-Yombo

FC Magdeburg (4-2-3-1): Reimann (GK) - Bockhorn, Hoti, Hugonet, Musonda - Gnaka, Michel - Ghrieb, Ulrich, Atik - Kaars