The 1952–54 FDGB-Pokal was the third competition for the national cup title in

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

. The competition had started with 84 teams from the third-tier Bezirksliga and fourth-tier Bezirksklasse competitions of the 15

Bezirke The German term ''Bezirk'' (plural ''Bezirke'', derived from la, circulus, "circle") translated as "district" can refer to the following types of administrative divisions: * '' Stadtbezirk'', a subdivision of a city in the sense of a borough (e ...

. After two qualifying rounds the First Round was played with 64 teams on 7 June 1953. These 64 teams were the 21 remaining teams from the qualifying rounds, 26 teams from the second-tier

DDR-Liga The DDR-Liga (English: GDR League or ''East German League'') was, prior to German reunification in 1990, the second level of football competition in the DDR (Deutsche Demokratische Republik or German Democratic Republic, commonly East Germany), bei ...

and 17 teams from the

1952–53 DDR-Oberliga The 1952–53 DDR-Oberliga was the fourth season of the DDR-Oberliga, the first tier of league football in East Germany. The league was contested by seventeen teams, two less than in the previous season, and Dynamo Dresden won the championship ...

. The matches for the second round were drawn, but not played due to the events around the

uprising of 1953 in East Germany The East German uprising of 1953 (german: Volksaufstand vom 17. Juni 1953 ) was an uprising that occurred in East Germany from 16 to 17 June 1953. It began with a strike action by construction workers in East Berlin on 16 June against w ...

, even though officially the summer holidays were given as the reason for an indefinite postponement. In the spring of 1954, the Second Round teams were drawn again, and the competition resumed with the matches on 25 April 1954. By the Third Round, 13 of the Oberliga teams had been eliminated, but two Bezirksliga sides were still in the competition: BSG Chemie Apolda and Aktivist Welzow. While they were eliminated in this round, three second-tier teams reached the quarterfinals: Empor Wurzen-West, BSG Chemie Zeitz and

Vorwärts Berlin 1. FC Frankfurt is a German football club based in Frankfurt (Oder), Brandenburg. The club was founded as the army club SV VP Vorwärts Leipzig in Leipzig in East Germany in 1951. The club won six East German championships as ASK Vorwärts Be ...

. Vorwärts, who just had secured promotion to the Oberliga, and Oberliga side Motor Zwickau eventually reached the final.

First qualifying round

Forfeit, Jena withdrew

Replay

Second qualifying round

Forfeit, Torgelow withdrew.

First round

(played on 7 June 1953) Originally 4-0, but as Weißenfels had fielded an ineligible player the result was annulled.
Thale filed a protest, because two of their players were away on national team duty. The match was replayed and ended in a 1-3 defeat for Thale again.

Replays

(played on 10 June 1953) Forfeit, Lauscha withdrew.

Second round

All matches of the second round were postponed, officially due to the summer holidays. The actual reason were the events surrounding the

. The Second Round was redrawn and played in 1954.

Original draw

New matches

(played on 25 April 1954)

Third round

(played on 16/19 May 1954)

Quarterfinals

(played on 23 May 1954)

Semifinals

(played on 2 June 1954)

Final

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1952-54 Fdgb-Pokal FDGB-Pokal seasons

East East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fa ...

1952–53 in East German football 1953–54 in East German football