Record winners – and not just in the cup: The aces up Bayern's sleeve going into the final against Stuttgart

FC Bayern will be looking to cap off this year's DFB Cup campaign by lifting the trophy in the final against VfB Stuttgart On Saturday (20:00 CEST). The final marks the conclusion of an impressive season for the Munich side. Vincent Kompany’s team have won 45 of their 54 competitive matches this season (six draws, three defeats) – should they secure another victory, FCB would equal their club record in professional football. The record champions only ever celebrated as many successes in a single season during the 2012/13 treble-winning campaign. Read what might point to another triumph in the facts on the 2026 DFB Cup final.

A 2-1 win in the Franz Beckenbauer Super Cup, plus 5-0 and 4-2 victories in the Bundesliga clashes in Stuttgart and Munich: the record against the Swabians so far bodes well for Saturday. Since Vincent Kompany took the helm at FCB, Bayern have actually won all five competitive matches against VfB. The last defeat against Stuttgart came in May 2024 away from home in the Bundesliga (3-1).

It means that overall, the record cup winners further cemented their dominance in the so-called Südschlager (battle of the south). Of the 131 competitive encounters against Stuttgart since the Bundesliga was founded, Bayern have won 87 (with 22 draws and 22 defeats) – meaning no other team in German professional football has recorded as many wins against a single club as FCB have against VfB.

The record in the DFB Cup is also crystal clear: FC Bayern have won nine of their ten cup ties against Stuttgart to date. The two teams last met in the final 13 years ago, a match which the Bavarians, under Jupp Heynckes, won 3-2. The only exception was in November 1989, when VfB won 3-0 at home in the round of 16.

This marks FC Bayern's 25th appearance in the DFB Cup final. This means the Munich side have reached the most important final in German professional football more than twice as often as any other club (FC Schalke 04 follow in second place with 12 final appearances). The competition’s record winners have lifted the trophy 20 times, with Werder Bremen in second place with six cup victories.

What’s more, FCB have recently felt very much at home in the venue for the final in the capital. Bayern have won their last seven competitive matches at the Olympiastadion – twice in the DFB Cup final and five times against Hertha BSC on their home turf.

The DFB Cup final will see the season's two top scorers in the Bundesliga go head to head. With 36 goals, Harry Kane made sure of the Torjägerkanone (top scorer trophy) by a clear margin ahead of Stuttgart’s Deniz Undav (19). The Bayern striker also leads the way in the current cup competition, boasting the best tally for a forward in seven years with seven goals (Robert Lewandowski also scored seven in 2018/19). Only Thomas Müller (2013/14; eight goals) scored more goals in a cup campaign this millennium.

When it comes to goal contributions, however, the two strikers are neck and neck: since the start of the season, Deniz Undav has been directly involved in nine goals in nine DFB Cup appearances (five goals, four assists) – a record for that period, shared with Harry Kane (eight goals, one assist).

When it comes to the goal tally this season, however, there's a world of difference between the two. Across all competitions, Kane has scored 58 competitive goals since the start of the season – a feat surpassed in professional football at FC Bayern only by Gerd Müller (66 goals in 1972/73). Undav has racked up 25 goals so far ahead of the season’s conclusion. Whether the VfB striker will add another in the final remains to be seen: Undav has never managed to get on the scoresheet in six competitive outings against FC Bayern. It's quite a different picture for Harry Kane: the England captain has scored no less than 11 goals against Stuttgart. Since joining FCB in August 2023, no other Bundesliga player has bagged as many competitive goals against a single club as Kane has against VfB.

Manuel Neuer has won the DFB Cup six times to date (once with FC Schalke 04, five times with FC Bayern) and could now equal Bastian Schweinsteiger’s historic record in the competition. The Bayern legend won the DFB Cup seven times as a player. Having already secured the title of Germany’s record champion this season with the 13th league title of his career, Neuer could now also become the joint record winner in Germany’s second major club competition.

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