Bavarian court announces judgment in DFB-Pokal dispute will come Wednesday
Schalke 04 may have a firm opponent in place for their delayed first-round Pokal dispute by midweek. Whether it shall be Türkgücü München or FC Schweinfurt depends on a Bavarian court's coming ruling.
| Schalke 04 faced FC Schweinfurt in the DFB-Pokal in 2018. Whether the two teams will meet again this year depends on a court's coming ruling. | Photo: Sandro Halank, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 |
It remains possible that Schalke 04's opponent in the delayed first round fixture of the 2020/21 DFB Pokal will not be certain after the announcement. An appeal of the decision may still be filled. Third-division-side Türkgücü filed a late injunction before the court only hours before Schalke was slated to face FC Schweinfurt on September 12th.
The dispute itself emerges from the cancellation of Germany's 2019/20 fourth-tier Regionalliga campaigns during the early phases of the COVID-19 global pandemic. In a compromise brokered by the BFV, Türkgücü--first place in the Bayern Regional League at the time--were awarded promotion while Schweinfurt--second place in the standings--were accorded the privilege of participating in the domestic cup.
Türkgücü President opted to protest the compromise when he believed Schweinfurt made a deliberate effort to backstab his club by complicating the Türkgücü's complex quest to meet third-division stadium licensing requirements.
Time is of the essence as the draw second round of the DFB-Pokal will take place on October 18th. BFV President Rainer Koch again defended the compromise in a recent interview, saying that allowing Türkgücü to be both promoted and awarded a Pokal berth would have "led to open warfare" as the season had not been officially completed.
Dr. Martin Stopper, the sports advisor to the Bavarian chancellory who argued on behalf of the BFV, noted that to allow Türkgücü to be both promoted given a cup berth would have given the club "a double advantage, because not all of the matches had been played and the sporting performance of Schweinfurt and [third-place] Bayreuth would not have been taken into account."
