The Hesse Cup (German: ''Hessenpokal'') is one of the 21 regional cup competitions of

German football Association football, Football (or "soccer") is the most popular sport in Germany. The German Football Association (german: Deutscher Fußball-Bund, link=no or ) is the sport's national governing body, with 6.6 million members (roughly eight ...

. The winner of the competition gains entry to the first round of the

German Cup 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 ...

History

The Cup was established in 1945, after the end of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, in the state of

Hessen Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are Darm ...

, which then was part of the US occupation zone in

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 ...

. The Hessen Cup is played annually. From 1974 onwards, the winner of the Hessen Cup qualified for the first round of the German Cup.

Modus

Professional clubs are not permitted to enter the competition, meaning, no teams from 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 ...

'' and 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 ...

'' can compete. In 2008–09, the best 15 teams of the regional cups in Hesse qualified for the first round of the Hesse Cup. All clubs from Hesse playing in the ''Regionalliga'' and below take part in these competitions. Additionally, Kickers Offenbach and

SV Wehen Wiesbaden SV Wehen Wiesbaden is a German association football club based in Wiesbaden, Hesse. Since the beginning of the 2007–08 season the club no longer plays its home games in Taunusstein, where they were originally located. In the summer of 2007 ''W ...

are the two clubs from Hesse in the

3. Liga The 3. Liga is a professional association football league and the third division in Germany. In the German football league system, it is positioned between the 2. Bundesliga and the fourth-tier Regionalliga. The modern 3. Liga was formed for t ...

, so they qualify directly for the Hesse Cup. The final is played at a neutral location but the two finalists can agree to play the game at one of the two clubs home ground.

Cup finals

Held annually at the end of season, these are the cup finals since 1945:Hesse Cup finals
publisher: DSFS, accessed: 9 December 2011 * Source: * Winners in bold

Winners & finalists

Listed in order of wins, the Cup winners are: * Winning finals in bold. * ^† Achieved by reserve team. * ¹ The 1947 cup final was replayed twice, with the first two games having ended drawn 3–3 and 2–2. * ² The 1953 final had to be replayed because the first game ended in a 1–1 draw. * ³ The 1957 final was called off after 65 minutes because of crowd trouble and the SV Kilianstädten walking off the field. The game was awarded with the score at the time it was called off. * ⁴ The 1962 final had to be replayed because the first game ended in a 1–1 draw after extra time.

References

Sources

*''Deutschlands Fußball in Zahlen'', An annual publication with tables and results from the Bundesliga to Verbandsliga/Landesliga, publisher: DSFS

External links

Fussball.de: Hesse Cup

Hessian football federation website
{{German Cup competitions (football) Recurring sporting events established in 1945 Football cup competitions in Germany Football competitions in Hesse 1945 establishments in Germany