DFL-Ligapokal

The Premiere Ligapokal (previously DFB Liga-Pokal), or German League Cup, is a German football competition that takes place before the start of the Bundesliga season, featuring the top teams of the previous Bundesliga season and the winners of the German Cup in Germany. The cup changed its name to that of its sponsor, Premiere (a German pay television network), in 2005.

Format

The Ligapokal is played between six teams, the top four teams of the Bundesliga, the German Cup winners, and the winner of the 2nd Bundesliga. If a team is doubly qualified by also winning the German Cup, the number five team in the Bundesliga will take the spare place.

The tournament is 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 champion and the German Cup winner enter the tournament in the second round. If the Bundesliga champion is also the cup winner, the Bundesliga runner-up will skip the first round. The four remaining teams play one match to determine who qualifies for the next round. The four teams in the second round then play one match to determine which teams qualify for the final. All matches take place in neutral venues (alltough this is not always the case) and last 90 minutes, with a penalty shootout immidiately following if the match is 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, which was called German Supercup and is akin to the English FA Community Shield. 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. Starting with the 2007 cup, the participating teams will be the top four teams from the Bundesliga, the German Cup winners, as well as the winners of the 2nd Bundesliga.

Winners by Team

Pos	Team	Wins	Last win	Runner-ups	Last runner-up
1	FC Bayern Munich	6	2004	1	2006
2	Hertha BSC Berlin	2	2002	1	2000
3	Hamburger SV	2	2003	0	N/A
4	FC Schalke 04	1	2005	2	2002
	SV Werder Bremen	1	2006	2	2004

Past Ligapokal Results

Main article: List of Ligapokal matches

The current Premiere Ligapokal champion is SV Werder Bremen.

Premiere Ligapokal 2006

	Team 1	Score	Team 2	Venue
Round 1	Hamburger SV	1 - 0	Hertha BSC Berlin	LTU-Arena, Düsseldorf
	FC Schalke 04	1 - 1 (9 - 8 pen)	Bayer 04 Leverkusen	LTU-Arena, Düsseldorf
Semifinals	SV Werder Bremen	2 - 1	Hamburger SV	Weserstadion, Bremen
	FC Bayern Munich	0 - 0 (4 - 1 pen)	FC Schalke 04	Allianz-Arena, München
Final	SV Werder Bremen	2 - 0	FC Bayern Munich	Zentralstadion, Leipzig
Premiere Ligapokal Winner 2006: SV Werder Bremen

See Also

• DFB-Pokal
• Bundesliga