Sebastian Hoeness said his Stuttgart team is in a battle with Freiburg to reach the DFB-Pokal final ahead of their semi-final clash at the MHPArena on Thursday.
Stuttgart are on the verge of playing back-to-back big games in the competition, having won their fourth title in 2025 with a 4-2 victory over Arminia Bielefeld.
Die Roten are also on course to return to the Champions League stage, having missed out last season, and Hoeness’ side are currently fourth in the Bundesliga with four games remaining.
However, Stuttgart’s success in the DFB-Pokal last season allowed them to qualify for the Europa League in 2025-26, although they were eliminated in the round of 16 by Porto.
And they have often enjoyed this competition, especially against Freiburg. Stuttgart have progressed in four of their five DFB-Pokal matches against Breisgau-Brasilianer, most recently a 1-0 home win in the second round of the 2020-21 season.
Stuttgart have also kept a clean sheet in their last three DFB-Pokal games. Only once before had they had a longer run without conceding a goal in the competition (four consecutive cup games in 1982-83).
While Freiburg’s hopes of reaching Europe from the Bundesliga are practically over, they have two chances of getting there, with the club in the semi-finals of the Europa League, where they will face Braga, as well as being among the final four of this competition.
Hoeness said his team recognized the challenge ahead, but insisted he was confident his players could get the job done.
“We are very, very motivated to reach our second consecutive DFB Cup final. You can already feel the positive energy among the boys,” Hoeness told reporters.
“It will be a cup battle, we are 100% sure of that. Freiburg will travel to Stuttgart full of confidence.
“They are also in the semi-finals of the Europa League and in a good position in the league.”
Hoeness also highlighted big-match experience within their ranks, citing big games that included their promotion to the Bundesliga in 2019-20.
“In recent years we have had several really important games, whether in the relegation play-off, in the Bundesliga, in the DFB Cup or in European competitions,” added Hoeness.
“We are capable of applying pressure and putting on dominant displays, but we have to defend at the highest level and be wide awake, especially in transitions.”
Meanwhile, Freiburg is in the DFB Cup semi-finals for the fourth time. Julian Schuster is the first coach since Christian Streich’s departure to be on the wing for them at this stage. They only reached the final in 2021-22, when Freiburg beat Hamburg.
Four years ago they lost on penalties to RB Leipzig and the following year they reached the semi-finals, but lost again to the same rival in regulation time (5-1).
But between the euphoria of reaching a European semi-final mixed with a strong Bundesliga campaign, Schuster urged his players to stay focused.
“We enjoyed the moment for a while,” Schuster said. “For all the happiness we’ve achieved, it was also something we talked about right away.
“The real quality lies in putting in that kind of performance again on Thursday and not resting on our laurels. The team has done very well lately.”
