Spotlight on Borussia Dortmund's Cup opponents, TSV Schott Mainz

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In this edition, we look at Borussia Dortmund’s German Cup first-round opponents.

When Dominik Ohlback from shown his second yellow card it looked grim for TSV Schott Mainz’s chances of defending the Southwest Regional Cup. The final, against Wormatia Worms, held on the 3 June, was in its final minutes and poised at 2-2 with extra time looming.

The ten men of TSV held out against a penalty shootout. Up stepped 25-year-old goalkeeper Tim Hansen, to make two decisive saves to win the cup for the second successive season and claim a glamourous, not to say lucrative, opener to the following season.

The Southwest Regional Cup is one of twenty-one regional cup competitions, known as Verbandspokal. These competitions are played across Germany with the finals played on the same day and covered live on national television.

As well as the trophy, the winners also qualify for the first round of the DFB Pokal, Germany’s domestic cup competition, and are guaranteed a home tie against opposition from one of the top two divisions. Every year, when the draw is made, the players, coaches, and supporters have their fingers crossed that they hit the jackpot and host one of the big names from the top of the Bundesliga.

This year, TSV Schott Mainz did just that when they drew Borussia Dortmund.

In last season’s DFB Pokal, TSV were drawn at home to second-division Hannover 96. The tie drew sufficient interest to play the match away from their home stadium and move to the nearby Bruchwegstadion which used to be where Mainz 05 played their home games. 4,500 spectators watched TSV lose 3-0.

This year, with all due respect to Hannover, the excitement of drawing one of the current giants of the German game is much higher. Instead of the Bruchwegstadion, the match will be played at Mainz 05’s current home stadium, the MEWA Arena where a sizeable number of that stadium’s 33,000 seats will be filled between interested locals and travelling Dortmunders.

If you are familiar with specialist glass manufacturing, then the name Schott will be known to you. They are a massive, multi-national based in Mainz and are part of the Carl Zeiss Foundation; a name familiar to whom photographers as lens manufacturers. Schott is headquartered in Mainz and the company has a huge sports complex which includes the Otto-Schott-Sportzentrum which is a small multi-purpose stadium where TSV normally play their home games.

Their corporate affiliation does not make TSV a fake or “plastic” club whose success is down to financing from its owners. In fact, the club is currently sustaining itself, financially, after having its subsidy removed. However, its part-time coaches and players benefit hugely from the use of Schott’s training facilities and gym which provide the foundations for a club that can attract ambitious players who are looking to relaunch their playing careers.

A number of players, including playmaker Etienne Portmann, former club captain Jost Mairose and current captain Tim Muller who, according to a recent article in Kicker, have turned down contracts for more money and at a higher level to stay at TSV.

Sporting director, Sascha Meeth and head coach Aydin Ay are looking for a quick return to the Regionalliga. The money earned from this game will certainly help.

But can they cause an upset and defeat the Bundesliga runners-up and put their name in the hat for the next round of the cup? Well, it would be unwise put money on a fourth-division team beating a team that finished second in the Bundesliga. That said you can never fully rule out Dortmund not falling victim to a classic cup giant killing. The timing of the first round, one week before the start of the Bundesliga season is perfect for upsets. Often the bigger clubs are still in late-stage pre-season preparation and can get caught unawares.

And there is of course the additional Mainz narrative. Borussia’s last competitive match was against a team from Mainz, and we all know how that went. Could the football gods look upon this upcoming cup tie and see a chance for mischief by adding another Mainz-related drama?

The answer, of course, is probably not and history shows that Dortmund does not take first-round games lightly. But if they do it would be a serious embarrassment to the club and may undermine their confidence as they recover from the trauma of narrowly missing the title, last season.

TSV Schott Mainz v Borussia Dortmund in the first round of the DFB Pokal kicks off at 15:30 on 12 August.