DFB-Pokal Draw: Bundesliga giants Leipzig and Bayern to clash

The second round draw for the DFB-Pokal has thrown up a mammoth tie between the top two in last season’s Bundesliga, RB Leipzig and Bayern Munich.

There were three other all-Bundesliga ties drawn out, whilst holders Borussia Dortmund travel to former UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup winners 1. FC Magdeburg and last season’s runners-up Eintracht Frankfurt travel to the smallest team left in the competition, 1. FC Schweinfurt 05.

The games will take place on the 24 and 25 October 2017.

Leipzig and Bayern set to meet twice in a week

18-time winners Bayern beat Chemnitzer FC in the first round, and will face another trip north to Saxony in October for a first meeting in the competition with Leipzig. It will be an eagerly-anticipated contest, especially after the memorable 5-4 win for Bayern in their first ever trip to the Red Bull Arena back in May. The game will also come just days before their first Bundesliga meeting of the season at the Allianz Arena the following weekend.

Last year’s winners Dortmund will face 3. Liga side Magdeburg, who knocked FC Augsburg out in the previous round and previously reached the quarter-finals of the competitions in the 2000/01 season, knocking out Bayern along the way. The tie will see Dortmund captain Marcel Schmelzer face his hometown club, who he started his career with before joining Dortmund.

Schweinfurt, of the Regionalliga Bayern, knocked out 2. Bundesliga club 1. FC Heidenheim in the first round, and their reward is to host Frankfurt, who will travel over the Hesse-Bavarian border for the match. Frankfurt beat TuS Erndtebrück in the first round but sporting director Fredi Bobic has warned they “shouldn’t underestimate” their next opponents. He is hoping that the Eagles fans can help to fill Schweinfurt’s Willy-Sachs-Stadion.

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Osnabrück handed Nürnberg tie

Of the other three 3. Liga clubs in the draw, SV Wehen Wiesbaden were rewarded for the scalp of Erzgebirge Aue with a tie against Schalke 04, managed by former Aue boss Domenico Tedesco. Hamburger SV’s conquerors VfL Osnabrück will host 1. FC Nürnberg, and SC Paderborn 07 welcome VfL Bochum.

The draw also threw up three other all-Bundesliga pairings. Having just met in the opening week of the league season, Werder Bremen and TSG 1899 Hoffenheim will renew hostilities in October, albeit at the Weserstadion. Hertha BSC and 1. FC Köln will meet in the capital for the sixth time in the Pokal, having previously contested the 1977 final, which Köln won after a replay. Northern rivals VfL Wolfsburg and Hannover 96 were also drawn together.

Two other local derbies will see Fortuna Düsseldorf host Borussia Mönchengladbach, whilst Bavarian rivals SpVgg Greuther Fürth and FC Ingolstadt 04 will meet. Of the remaining Bundesliga sides, Bayer Leverkusen have a potential banana-skin against 1. FC Union Berlin, 1. FSV Mainz 05 host Holstein Kiel, VfB Stuttgart travel to 1. FC Kaisersalutern, and SC Freiburg welcome Dynamo Dresden.