1. FC Union Berlin have won the national cup competition on one occasion. However, this trophy dates back to the 1968 win over Carl Zeiss Jena to collect the cup donated by the FDGB — known as the Free German Trade Union Federation during the GDR era.

Since 1990, Union Berlin have participated in the national FA cup, run by the German Football Association (DFB). We first competed in 1994 when Union were in the third-tier of the pyramid and qualified for the main competition through winning the regional cup. So Union’s DFB Pokal history began with a meeting against FC St Pauli who ran out 3-2 winners at the Stadion An der Alten Försterei.

Six years later, the Köpenick club carried on their success of promotion to the 2.Bundesliga with an impressive cup run, which caught national attention. Union beat Rot-Weiß Oberhausen by two goals before seeing off Greuther Fürth in the second round 1-0. The Berliners knocked out SSV Ulm with a 4-2 win and turned in a giant performance to beat VfL Bochum 1-0 in the quarterfinals at the Alte Försterei. Borussia Mönchengladbach, then second division, became another major scalp for Union in Köpenick with the Foals beaten on penalties. Union earned their dream final at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin on May 26 2001, and despite a gallant effort, league runner-up Schalke ran out 2-0 winners.

In the years, which followed the run to the final, Union could not make it past the round of 16. Nevertheless, the campaign of 2016/17 gave our supporters something special to experience — a trip to the Westfalenstadion to meet Borussia Dortmund on 26 October 2016. Union equalised with the Bundesliga side on 81 minutes but went down on penalty kicks in front of more than 12,000 Union fans who made up the 79,037 attendance.

This time around, Union Berlin start their DFB Pokal campaign against none other than third-tier side Carl Zeiss Jena, the defeated opposition when the Köpenick club got their hands on national silverware for the first time 50 years ago.