Bundesliga outfit VFL Bochum will kick off their 2022-23 campaign with a trip to fourth-tier outfit FC Viktoria Berlin.

It marks the first round of this season's DFB-Pokal, with Bochum heavy favourites to progress into the next round.

Match preview

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Such is the uniqueness of the Pokal, the first round of the competition often throws up intriguing ties between higher and lower opposition.

Viktoria Berlin play in the Regionalliga Nordost and qualified for the Pokal after winning the regional Berlin Cup last season.

They saw off fellow Regionalliga Nordost side VSG Altglienicke in May's final, triumphing 2-1 in the final.

Their reward for such an achievement is the visit of Bundesliga side Bochum, who finished 13th in the first division last time around.

A slender figure in German football, Viktoria Berlin are more well known for their contributions to cricket, having pioneered the sport in the country.

Having won the German men's cricket championship 21 times in their history, the attention of Viktoria Berlin will be firmly placed on the Pokal this weekend.

Despite having spent every season since 1971 in the top two leagues of German football, Bochum have never lifted the famous Pokal trophy.

Twice finishing as finalists, firstly in 1967-68 and then again in 1987-88, Bochum will be hoping for a deep run in the competition this season, starting with a victory against fourth division Viktoria Berlin.

Unsurprisingly, given the chasm between the two sides, Bochum and Viktoria Berlin have never faced each other in a competitive fixture.

In fact, this fixture will represent just the second time that Viktoria Berlin have competed in the Pokal, having also qualified for the competition in 2019-20.

A respectable 1-0 defeat to the then 2. Bundesliga side Arminia Bielefeld marked an impressive debut, with Viktoria Berlin no doubt eyeing up a surprise result this weekend.

Team News

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It has been a busy summer for Bochum, who have seen a number of incomings and outgoings at the Ruhrstadion.

Debuts could be on the cards for Philipp Forster and Konstantinos Stafylidis, who arrived from fellow Bundesliga outfits Stuttgart and Hoffenheim respectively.

Philipp Hofmann netted 19 times for Karlsruher last season and could be in line for a debut himself, after securing a summer move to Bochum.

There are unlikely to be any minutes on the cards for Danilo Soares or Jacek Goralski, who are both missing for Bochum due to injury.

Goalkeeper Marcel Kostenbauer should start between the sticks for Viktoria Berlin, with the shot-stopper expected to be busy against a Bundesliga attack.

Viktoria Berlin possible starting lineup:
Kostenbauer; Cvjetinovic, Touglo, Anders, Cvjetinovic; Inaler, Gunay, Kuc; Emghames, Durmushan,Yilmaz

VfL Bochum possible starting lineup:
Riemann; Gamboa, Stafylidis, Ordets, Lampropoulos; Stoger, Losilla, Holtmanm; Zoller, Takuma, Hoffmann

We say: Viktoria Berlin 0-3 VfL Bochum

Such is the nature of the early Pokal rounds, it often makes it easy to predict who will progress from the first stage of the competition.

Bochum may be under pressure to perform, but expect the Bundesliga side to prevail comfortably this weekend against Viktoria Berlin.


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