DFB-Pokal Round One 2026/27: How Much Every Club Earned

Germany’s domestic cup has completed its opening round for 2026/27, and every one of the 64 participating clubs already banked a guaranteed fee before a ball was kicked. Thirty-two of them have now added the round-two payout on top. 

Round One at a glance

The first round was played across 21–24 August 2026, with holders Bayern Munich and runners-up Borussia Dortmund following on 1–2 September 2026 after their involvement in the Franz Beckenbauer Supercup. Sixty-four clubs took part in total:

• 18 clubs from the Bundesliga
• 18 clubs from the 2. Bundesliga
• 4 clubs from the 3. Liga
• 21 regional cup winners
• 3 additional representatives from the largest regional associations (Bavaria, Lower Saxony, Westphalia)

Among the headline pairings from the draw were VfL Osnabrück against Bayern Munich and amateur side HEBC Hamburg against Borussia Dortmund — the kind of David-vs-Goliath ties the German cup is known for.

Round one prize money 2026/27

Every participating club receives an appearance fee regardless of the result. Clubs that advance pick up the round-two fee on top:

That’s roughly €16,300 more per club than last season simply for taking part — a 7.7% rise that holds steady through to the semi-final. The final is the exception: prize money there jumps by around 40% following a restructuring of the payout at that stage.

The bottom line after round one

Our calculation lets us total up exactly how much money round one has already put in motion:

• Guaranteed appearance fees to all 64 clubs: 64 × €228,189 = €14,604,096
• Additional fees for the 32 clubs that reached round two: 32 × €456,377 = €14,604,064
• Total committed after round one: €29,208,160 (approx. £24.8m)

The 32 clubs through to round two now stand at €684,566 each; the 32 eliminated clubs banked €228,189 each. Notably, the 32 survivors — according to our table — include not just all 18 Bundesliga sides but also several clubs from outside the top two divisions, among them Rot-Weiss Essen, SG Sonnenhof Großaspach and SSV Jeddeloh II, a sign of a handful of upsets along the way.

How it compares to the FA Cup

The structures aren’t directly comparable — the DFB-Pokal starts with a flat field of 64 clubs, while the FA Cup funnels through several qualifying rounds before its First Round Proper — but the scale is telling. For 2026/27, FA Cup First Round Proper winners earn £47,750 and losers £15,800, figures set by the FA’s prize fund for the round where non-league clubs typically enter against EFL opposition. The DFB-Pokal’s flat appearance fee, paid to top-flight giants and part-time regional cup winners alike, reflects a different funding model: a guaranteed baseline for every club rather than a fund that grows sharply the closer a club gets to facing Premier League opposition.

What’s still to be decided

Prize money for the round of 16 (€912,755), quarter-finals (€1,825,509), semi-finals (€3,651,019) and the final (€4,024,234 for the runner-up, €6,036,350 for the winner) is already fixed for 2026/27, but none of it is earned yet. The round of 16 isn’t played until 1–2 December 2026, so the totals above remain the confirmed picture for now.

Methodology & transparency

This analysis is based solely on confirmed DFB prize-money figures for 2026/27 and the round-by-round progress documented in our calculation table (as of 3 September 2026). A club is counted as having advanced only where the table already shows the round-two fee credited to it. Prize money from the round of 16 onwards is the DFB’s confirmed schedule, not yet-earned income — it will be allocated in our table only once each round’s outcome is known. GBP figures are approximate conversions for reader context and will move with the exchange rate. Individual round-one match results were not consistently verifiable at the time of research and have therefore been deliberately left out of the text.

FAQ

How much does every club receive just for taking part in DFB-Pokal round one? All 64 participants receive €228,189 regardless of the result.

How much extra does reaching round two bring in? Clubs that advance receive a further €456,377 on top of the appearance fee — €684,566 in total.

How many clubs made it through round one in 2026/27? 32 of the 64 entrants, including all 18 Bundesliga clubs, according to the current calculation.

How does DFB-Pokal prize money growth compare year on year? Fees through to the semi-final rose 7.7%; final prize money rose by around 40%.