Record-Breaking First Half Seals Frankfurt Statement
Eintracht Frankfurt opened the second tenure of coach Adi Hütter in record-breaking fashion on Friday, August 21, 2026. The Bundesliga side routed fifth-tier club SC St. Tönis 11-0 in the opening round of the DFB-Pokal. A sold-out crowd of 10,893 fans at the Grotenburg stadium in Krefeld watched as the visitors established a new tournament benchmark by building a 10-0 lead before halftime.
Burkardt Leads First-Half Onslaught
Hütter, who previously managed Frankfurt from 2018 to 2021, watched his side dismantle the lower-league opposition from the opening whistle. Jonathan Burkardt set the tone early by scoring the match’s opening goal in the 4th minute. He later added strikes in the 29th and 41st minutes to complete a first-half hat-trick.
Can Uzun contributed two goals in quick succession in the 34th and 36th minutes. Robin Koch struck in the 10th minute, Ayoube Amaimouni-Echghouyab found the net in the 17th, and Elias Baum scored in the 44th. Younes Ebnoutalib in the 45.+1 minute and Mario Götze in the 45.+5 minute added further goals in first-half stoppage time to cap off the historic 10-0 interval scoreline.
DFB-Pokal History Books Rewritten
Records tumbled during the opening 45 minutes. Historical match data confirms the 10-0 advantage stands as the highest halftime lead in the history of the DFB-Pokal. The final 11-0 scoreline also marks Frankfurt’s largest victory in the national cup competition. It surpasses their previous best from 1976, when they defeated Hertha Zehlendorf 10-2 in the second round. Fares Chaibi rounded out the scoring for the visitors with an 87th-minute goal to secure the final result.
Chasing All-Time German Cup Records
Despite the overwhelming margin, Frankfurt remained six goals shy of the all-time record for the largest victory in any German cup competition. That distinction remains held by the Stuttgarter Kickers, who defeated VfB Knielingen 17-0 in the 1941 Tschammer Pokal. Within the modern DFB-Pokal, Bayern München’s 16-1 victory over DJK Waldberg in 1997 maintains its place as the largest win in the tournament’s history.
Karlsruhe Overcomes Deficit in Münster
Elsewhere in the opening round of the DFB-Pokal, Karlsruher SC engineered a hard-fought 2-1 victory away against Preußen Münster. Former Ried coach Maximilian Senft saw his new side fall behind in the 35th minute when Montell Ndikom opened the scoring for Münster.
Karlsruhe leveled the match in the 69th minute through a precise long-range strike from Marvin Wanitzek. Sebastian Jung subsequently secured the victory for Karlsruhe in the 81st minute, sealing a successful debut for Senft before Münster’s Samuel Althaus received a red card in stoppage time.
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