The DFL-Ligapokal (, officially Premiere Ligapokal , previously DFB-Ligapokal ) or the ''German League Cup'' was a German football competition that took place before the start of the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

season, featuring the top five teams of the previous Bundesliga season and the winners of the

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considered ...

in Germany. The cup was known as the Premiere-Ligapokal after 2005, when Premiere, a German pay television network, took up sponsorship of the competition. The Ligapokal was not held in 2008 due to schedule crowding caused by the

UEFA Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of European ...

. Instead, the

German Supercup German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

was held on 23 July. The Ligapokal was not held in 2009 either, due to the German Football Association's decision to abolish it. In the final edition of the Ligapokal in 2007, the fifth-placed Bundesliga team (

Bayer Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, also known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen (), Bayer Leverkusen, or simply Leverkusen, is a professional football club based in Leverkusen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The club competes in the Bundesliga, t ...

) was dropped from the competition, replaced by the winner of the

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

(

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...

Format

The Ligapokal was played between six teams, the top four teams of the Bundesliga, the

winners, and the winner of the

. If a team was doubly qualified by also winning the German Cup, the number five team in the Bundesliga took the spare place. The tournament was a knock-out competition played over three rounds with two matches in the first two rounds, and a single final in the last round. The current Bundesliga champions and the German Cup winners entered the tournament in the second round. If the Bundesliga champions were also the cup winner, the Bundesliga runner-up skipped the first round. The four remaining teams played one match to determine who qualified for the next round. The four teams in the second round then played one match to determine which teams qualified for the final. The first round matches and the final took place in neutral venues, in the semi-finals the Bundesliga champion and the Cup winner played at home. The matches lasted 90 minutes, with a

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

immediately following if the match was tied.

History

The Ligapokal was played as a unique event in 1972 because the Olympics in Munich had caused a postponement of the regular season kick-off. Until 1996 there was a single match between the German champions (Deutscher Meister) and German Cup winners (Pokalsieger), which was called

and is akin to the English FA Community Shield. A competition featuring four other big clubs who had not qualified for the Supercup, the

Fuji-Cup The Fuji-Cup was a German football competition held during the summer break from 1986 to 1996 immediately prior to the kick-off the Bundesliga season. The competition featured four leading teams, playing two semi-finals and a final in a generally m ...

, also existed from 1986. In 1997 this was extended to a cup competition consisting of six teams, the top five placed teams from the Bundesliga plus the German Cup winners, with the cup winners and champions entering in the semifinals. If the cup winner was the same as any of the top five finishers in the league, the 6th place team was entitled to participate and the format was adjusted accordingly. In the 2007 edition, the participating teams were the top four teams from the Bundesliga, the German Cup winners, as well as the winners of the 2. Bundesliga.

Finals

Winners by team

Media coverage

* All five matches of the 2007 Ligapokal were broadcast live on German free-TV channel Sat.1. * In Australia, it was broadcast by

Setanta Sports Setanta Sports is a sports television company based in Dublin, Ireland broadcasting throughout select Eurasian. The company was formed in 1990 to facilitate the broadcasting of Irish sporting events to international audiences. The company previo ...

References

External links

(West) Germany - List of Super/League Cup Finals
RSSSF.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Dfl-Ligapokal Defunct football cup competitions in Germany

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Recurring sporting events established in 1997 Recurring sporting events disestablished in 2007 1997 establishments in Germany 2007 disestablishments in Germany