Dortmund's DFB-Pokal foes HEBC, a club that loves being underdogs | OneFootball

Violet and white are the colors of the club from the heart of the Hanseatic city, located between Sternschanze and Hoheluft. Angela Merkel was born here. On Tuesday, the club, which has been playing in Hamburg’s fifth-tier Oberliga since the 2020/21 season and won the Hamburg Cup for the first time on May 23, 2026, will move into the Volksparkstadion.

With two wins and three defeats, HEBC has begun the Oberliga season, along with an exit in the first round of the Verbandspokal against Altona 93. The club has been used to the underdog role for decades. HEBC finished the previous Oberliga campaign in 13th place, 45 points behind champions ETSV. But in the cup, the team went on a run in 2025/26: 6-1 against Viktoria Harburg, 5-2 against VfL Hammonia Hamburg, 4-3 on penalties against VfL Buchholz 08, 8-0 against SV West-Eimsbüttel, 1-0 against SV Nienstedten, 6-5 on penalties against USC Paloma, and finally 5-1 in the final against SC Vorwärts-Wacker 04.

The club has produced one Germany international (Thomas Wolter, a two-time champion with Werder Bremen) and also a player who once laced up his boots for BVB: Burghard Rylewicz scored five times in eleven matches in Borussia Dortmund’s first Bundesliga season.

For the Black and Yellows, the days when BVB suffered early exits in first-round DFB-Pokal matches—such as against Fürth in 1990, Wattenscheid in 1996, Stuttgarter Kickers in 1999, and Wolfsburg’s reserves in 2001—are now long gone. Most recently, BVB was knocked out in the first round in 2005, losing 2-1 to newly promoted second-division side Eintracht Braunschweig.

That was 21 years ago. Since that most recent first-round exit, Borussia have reached the cup final seven times and won the title three times (2012, 2017, and 2021). The away match in Hamburg is meant to be the first stage on the road to Berlin.Boris Rupert

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.