Participation The DFB-Pokal began with a round of 64 teams. The 36 teams of the
Bundesliga and
2. Bundesliga, along with the top four finishers of the
3. Liga automatically qualified for the tournament. Of the remaining slots, 21 were given to the cup winners of the regional football associations, the
Verbandspokal. The three remaining slots were given to the three regional associations with the most men's teams, which were Bavaria, Lower Saxony and Westphalia. The best-placed amateur team of the
Regionalliga Bayern was given the spot for Bavaria. For Lower Saxony, the
Lower Saxony Cup was split into two paths: one for
3. Liga and
Regionalliga Nord teams, and the other for amateur teams. The winners of each path qualified. For Westphalia, the spot was rotated each season between the best-placed Westphalian team of the
Regionalliga West and the best-placed amateur team of the
Oberliga Westfalen. For the 2023–24 DFB-Pokal, this spot was awarded to a team from the Regionalliga. As every team was entitled to participate in local tournaments which qualified for the association cups, every team could in principle compete in the DFB-Pokal. Reserve teams and combined football sections were not permitted to enter, along with no two teams of the same association or corporation.
Draw The draws for the different rounds were conducted as follows: A maximum of nine players could be listed on the substitute bench, while a maximum of five substitutions were allowed. However, each team was only given three opportunities to make substitutions, with a fourth opportunity in extra time, excluding substitutions made at half-time, before the start of extra time and at half-time in extra time. From the round of 16 onward, a
video assistant referee was appointed for all DFB-Pokal matches. Though technically possible, VAR was not used for home matches of Bundesliga clubs prior to the round of 16 in order to provide a uniform approach to all matches.
Suspensions If a player received five yellow cards in the competition, he was suspended from the next cup match. Similarly, receiving a second yellow card suspended a player from the next cup match. If a player received a direct red card, they were suspended a minimum of one match, but the German Football Association reserved the right to increase the suspension.
International qualification The winners of the DFB-Pokal earned automatic qualification for the league phase of next season's edition of the
UEFA Europa League. If they had already qualified for the
UEFA Champions League through position in the Bundesliga, then the spot went to the team in sixth place, and the league's
UEFA Conference League play-off round spot to the team in seventh place. The winners also hosted the
DFL-Supercup at the start of the next season, and faced the champions of the previous year's
Bundesliga, unless the same team won the Bundesliga and the DFB-Pokal, completing a double. In that case, the runners-up of the Bundesliga took the spot instead. ==Schedule==