The Middle Rhine Cup (German: ''Mittelrheinpokal'') is a German football club Cup competition open to teams from the

Lower Rhine The Lower Rhine (german: Niederrhein; kilometres 660 to 1,033 of the river Rhine) flows from Bonn, Germany, to the North Sea at Hook of Holland, Netherlands (including the Nederrijn or "Nether Rhine" within the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta); al ...

region of the state of

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inha ...

. The competition is one of the 21 regional cup competitions of

German 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 percent of the popul ...

and acts as a qualifier to the following seasons'

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 considere ...

. The competition is sponsored by the Bitburger brewery and carries the official name ''Bitburger Mittelrheinpokal''. It is operated by the ''Middle Rhine Football Association'', the ''FVM''.Bitburger-Pokal 2011/12: Wer ist dabei?
''FVM'' website. Retrieved 9 July 2012

Modus

Clubs from fully professional leagues are not permitted to enter the competition, meaning, no teams from the '' Fußball-Bundesliga'' and the '' 2nd Bundesliga'' can compete. All clubs from the Middle Rhine playing 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 th ...

'' (III) and the ''

Regionalliga West The Regionalliga West is a German semi-professional football division administered by the Western German Football Association based in Duisburg. It is one of the five German regional football associations. Being the single flight of the Western ...

'' (IV) are directly qualified for the first round, the remaining places are filled with the teams who qualified from local cup competitions, the ''Kreispokale''. All up, 32 clubs take part in the first round of the competition. Since the establishment of the 3. Liga in 2008, reserve teams can not take part in the German Cup or the Middle Rhine Cup anymore.

Winners

The winners of the competition since 1993:FVM-Pokalsieger Herren
''FVM'' website – Winners of the Middle Rhine Cup. Retrieved 9 July 2012

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: Middle Rhine Cup

''FVM'' website {{Football in North Rhine-Westphalia Football cup competitions in Germany Football competitions in North Rhine-Westphalia