St Tönis faces Frankfurt as DFB-Pokal opens with a Pfalz derby

The DFB-Pokal curtain rose on a gritty Pfalz-Derb, billed as the Pokal-Freitag highlight. SV Waldhof Mannheim travelled to face 1. FC Kaiserslautern, and after 38 Minuten of Unterbrechung the Spiel was halted. The match resumed and, after Verlängerung, Kaiserslautern secured a 0-1 victory. Vorhang fell on a cup tie that offered little more than a bruising encounter.

Pokal‑Freitag contrasts

Across the same Friday, SC St. Tönis hosted Eintracht Frankfurt in Krefeld and became the stage for a Rekordspiel. Trainer Bekim Kastrati, 47, told Sky that “Uns ist klar, dass wir hier unterlegen sein werden”, acknowledging the gap before the Spiel. The Frankfurt side exploded for an 0-11 win (0-10 at half-time), producing one of the highest Siege recorded in the competition. The Ende des Spiels left the Niederrhein-Oberligisten humbled.

Frankfurt’s extreme form was already evident after a 0-7 loss in their last test match against Premier-League club FC Brentford, a result that foreshadowed the flood of goals. Nach that encounter, the team delivered the 11-goal onslaught, confirming their status as a team of extremes. The FC’s performance on the Pokal-Freitag added another chapter to a season marked by record‑setting Siege and highlighted the disparity between cup underdogs and top‑flight opposition.