The Men Face the First Round of the Cup:
Union's Season Starts in Gütersloh
One week before the start of the Bundesliga, the men's season begins, as is tradition, with the first round of the DFB Pokal. The men's team of 1. FC Union Berlin will start their campaign away against Regionalliga side FC Gütersloh. Kick off at the Heidewaldstadion on Friday, 15.08.2025, is at 18:00.
The lie of the land
As the Regionalliga West's second placed side in 2024/25, FCG have once again set their sights on t promotion to the third tier, and accordingly, started their league campaign in fine fettle. A 2-0 victory against Rot-Weiß Oberhausen was followed by a convincing 6-3 against 1. FC Bocholt, but the recent 3-1 loss at home to the second team of Fortuna Düsseldorf marked a first setback. They started the Landespokal Westfalen with a 7-0 win over FC Kamen.
Union aim to reach at least the second round in the Cup, just as they have in the past nine seasons, to gather confidence before the Bundesliga kick off eight days later.
The club from the region of East Westphalia-Lippe were founded in 2000 as the successor to the original FC Gütersloh, who were dissolved in the same year. After many years in the Westfalenliga and then the Oberliga, the team, led by head coach Julian Hesse, finally achieved the long-awaited promotion to the fourth tier in the 2022/23 season, and they are now entering their third consecutive season in the Regionalliga.
On the pitch, the team are reliant on their strong attack, the most prolific in the league last season with 68 goals. Though top scorer Phil Beckhoff (15 goals and 11 assists) has left FCG for Regensburg, Patrick Twardzik, remains. He has already scored three times following his 21 goals last season.
Even though there are no players on either side who have previously played for the other club, there is still one Unioner who will meet former companions on Friday: Oliver Ruhnert, Union's chief scout, was the head coach of FC Gütersloh during the 2001/02 season and was responsible for the team in a total of 15 matches.
Union's coaching staff must do without Livan Burcu, Oluwaseun Ogbemudia, Josip Juranović, Lucas Tousart, and Stanley Nsoki for their first competitive match of the season.
“We travel to Gütersloh with a lot of enthusiasm and the clear aim of progressing to the next round," said a confident Steffen Baumgart during his press conference on Thursday afternoon. "Gütersloh are a Regionalliga side, but they have developed well in recent years. They definitely know what they are doing, as shown by their performances so far this season. Aside from the match against Düsseldorf, they were very convincing. With their robust team, they play a clear style and especially the attacking players are doing a very good job. In the end, however, it is up to us to ensure a positive result.”
The Ohlendorf Stadion im Heidewald, enlarged specifically for the match, is nearly sold out and will open its gates two hours before kick off. Around 4,000 Unioner are expected in the away block. The mobile Zeughaus will also be present on site.
Further information for all away fans can be found here (German). The match will be broadcast live on Sky and on the rbb audio stream. We will provide live updates in English on Twitter and Bluesky.
