Top-flight Augsburg are set to travel to Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark, where they will take on fourth-tier side Viktoria Berlin on Sunday in the first round of the DFB-Pokal.
The home side are currently seventh in the Regionalliga Northeast division and have four points after three games, while the visitors will begin their 2024-25 Bundesliga season against Werder Bremen on August 24.
Match preview
Viktoria Berlin are a relatively new team, having been formed in 2013 after BFC Viktoria 1889 and Lichterfelder FC merged into one club.
The hosts won their first league game of the season 3-2 against Plauen on July 28 thanks to goals from Julien Damelang, Alexander Dikarev and Metehan Yildirim.
Interestingly, Viktoria Berlin initially went 2-0 down in that match, but Yildirim's 84th-minute winner completed their comeback and was enough to claim all three points.
However, they followed up this good result with a 1-1 draw against Rot-Weiss Essen on August 2 and a 2-1 loss against Altglienicke on August 11.
Since their formation in 2013, the club have competed in the DFB-Pokal three times and have lost all three matches, including most recently against Bochum in 2022-23.
Opponents Augsburg finished 11th in the Bundesliga in 2023-24 with 39 points from 34 games, just six clear of 16th-placed Bochum, who ended the season in the division's relegation playoff spot.
To Fuggerstadter's credit, their points total of 39 was still five more than they achieved in 2022-23, though this tally was not enough to achieve their first top 10 finish since 2014-15.
Previous boss Enrico Maassen was sacked in October 2023 and was replaced by current manager Jess Thorup less than a week later.
Augsburg scored 50 goals and conceded 60 times last term, and of the 18 teams in the Bundesliga, this made them the division's joint ninth-best offensive and joint 13th-best defensive team.
Last season, Fuggerstadter were eliminated from the DFB-Pokal after losing 2-0 against third-tier side Unterhaching in the first round on August 13.
In recent years, Augsburg have had a largely positive record on the road in the competition, and have won five of their last eight away matches in the DFB-Pokal.
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Team News
The hosts will likely start Niklas Petzsch in goal, and he could be shielded by Alexander Dikarev and Marvin Pohl in defence.
Viktoria Berlin could also start Shean Mensah and Oleh Skakun either side of Julien Damelang in the forward line.
As for the visitors, they will have to contend with the absence of last season's top scorer Ermedin Demirovic, who has transferred to Stuttgart.
Steve Mounie and Samuel Essende could start in attack for Augsburg, while centre-backs Jeffrey Gouweleeuw and Keven Schlotterbeck will likely be named in the starting XI.
Viktoria Berlin possible starting lineup:
Petzsch; Liu, Dikarev, Pohl, Richter; Lisinski, Yildirim, Hebisch; Skakun, Damelang, Mensah
Augsburg possible starting lineup:
Labrovic; Pedersen, Gouweleeuw, Schlotterbeck, Giannoulis; Maier, Jakic, Engels; Jensen; Essende, Mounie
We say: Viktoria Berlin 2-0 Augsburg
Although top-flight Augsburg were eliminated by a lower-league side in the DFB-Pokal last season, it would be surprising if they failed to progress past the first round for the second year in a row.
Viktoria Berlin will no doubt look to use set pieces to their advantage, and while they could prove to be stubborn opposition, the visitors' superior quality should see them emerge as victors.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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