The odyssey ended with a postponement rather than a cancellation: the DFB Cup match between Teutonia Ottensen and RB Leipzig will now take place in the arena of the defending champion. The reason for this is a poison attack on the lawn of the stadium that was actually planned – which is also far away from Ottensen.
Exchanged home rights after a poison attack on the lawn: The first round match in the DFB Cup between the regional soccer team Teutonia Ottensen and defending champion RB Leipzig can take place as planned on August 30 (8:46 p.m. / ZDF, Sky and in the ntv.de live ticker) – however not in Dessau. As the DFB announced, Ottensen is giving up home rights, so the game in Leipzig’s Red Bull Arena is increasing. On Tuesday it was said that an exchange of home rights was not possible.
“We went through different scenarios together. After weighing up all the options, this is the best solution,” said DFB Vice President Peter Frymuth. Due to the upcoming game date, a renewed search for possible alternative venues was “not realistic”.
Unknown people had dumped an apparently toxic substance on the lawn of the Paul Greifzu Stadium in Dessau. Both penalty areas and the area around the center circle are particularly affected. “It’s dead grass that won’t grow back anytime soon,” Benjamin Völker from Dessau’s sports promotion department told MDR. In the meantime, the game was even completely on the brink and a cancellation in the room.
The Hamburg club Teutonia wanted to play the game in Dessau, almost 400 kilometers away, because finding a stadium in and around the Hanseatic city was difficult. The second division clubs FC St. Pauli and Hamburger SV did not want to make their stadium available. St. Pauli referred to the critical attitude towards RB Leipzig, in the Volksparkstadion a fair will take place on the same day, HSV said. Ottensen is not allowed to use their own stadium due to an artificial turf pitch.
The encounter in the first round could not be played at the end of July because Leipzig was still in action against champions Bayern Munich (3:5) in the Supercup. Bayern start the cup on August 31st at third division side Viktoria Köln.
