The last time that the Wolves met the Storks was more recently than you might think. On 25 January this year, KSV – who would go on to be relegated at the end of the season – came away from the Volkswagen Arena with a 2-2 draw. Despite going down, they have managed to hold on to both of their goalscorers from that match, namely Steven Skrzybski and David Zec.
That draw made it nine matches in a row without defeat for VfL against Kiel, with their last loss to these opponents coming way back in 1989, when Horst Hrubesch was in charge.
More facts and figures in the lead-up to Kiel’s visit in the DFB Cup
- The Bundesliga 2 side do not have any former VfL players in their current squad, but at boardroom level, Olaf Rebbe – who wore the green and white from 2012 to 2018 – has been the club’s managing director for sport since April.
- These two teams are yet to face one another in the DFB Cup.
- This is the Wolves’ 125th appearance in the DFB Cup, while Kiel have 73 to their name. The last time that KSV made it past the second round was in 2020/21, when they went all the way to the semi-finals before going down 5-0 to Borussia Dortmund.
- The only other time that the Storks made it into the semis was back in 1940/41, when they lost 6-0 to Schalke 04.
- Of all the current Bundesliga 2 teams, only Hertha BSC (61) have played VfL Wolfsburg more often than Holstein Kiel.
- These two sides have yet to concede in this season’s competition, with Marcel Rapp’s team booking their spot in the second round via a 2-0 win away to fourth-tier club FC Homburg.
