FC Pesch and Porz: Full throttle into the Middle Rhine Cup final!

FC Pesch and Porz: Full throttle into the Middle Rhine Cup final!

FC Pesch and the Porz sports association did impressively in the first round of the Middle Rhine Cup and easily moved into the second round. This competition, also known as the Bitburger Cup, is held by the Middle Rhine Football Association (FVM) and is the 34th men's event. The winners qualify for the first main round of the 2026/27 DFB Cup.

A strong performance from FC Pesch

FC Pesch played a convincing game against the district league team SV Niersquelle Kuckum. With a clear 5-1 win, coach Abdullah Keseroglu's team gave their own team a lot of self-confidence. The game immediately started with a bang: Louis Müller made it 1-0 in the 7th minute, followed by a goal from Ergün Yildiz in the 9th minute, which increased the score to 2-0. At halftime the game was already decided and Pesch was safely leading 2-0.

In the second half, Ergün Yildiz wasted no time and extended the lead to 3-0 in the 52nd minute. Gjastin Nrejaj went one better and increased the score to 4-0 in the 72nd minute. SV Niersquelle Kuckum was able to reduce the score to 1:4 in the 79th minute, but Simon Raphael Steinkrüger made the final score 5:1 three minutes before the end. The final phase was particularly remarkable, in which Pesch was even able to operate with a double majority, as two of Kuckum's players were sent off with yellow-red.

Porz is also convincing

The Porz sports association is also in great shape. They also won against the district league team SV Bergfried Leverkusen 3-1. Metin Kizil opened the game in the 3rd minute and gave Porz the lead. Etienne Kamm didn't wait long and increased the score to 2-0 in the 45th minute. Things got exciting after Bergfried's goal in the 53rd minute, but Kizil let his team celebrate in stoppage time and made it 3-1.

After the game, the club's boss Peter Dicke was somewhat critical of how the chances were exploited and noted that the team should have been clearly ahead earlier.

Middle Rhine Cup at a glance

The Middle Rhine Cup 2025/26 includes a total of 64 teams and will be played in a knockout system. The competition began on August 20, 2025, and the draw for the games took place on July 4, streamed live on Facebook. Interestingly, the final stadium, the Sportpark Höhenberg in Cologne, is also used as an important venue in this tournament.

The competitive atmosphere and promising games not only bring excitement, but also the opportunity for the clubs to show themselves on a bigger stage. So we can certainly expect more exciting encounters in the next rounds.

For detailed information on the individual games and statistics, we recommend taking a look at the Kicker and Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger websites, which always keep up-to-date information on the events surrounding the Middle Rhine Cup.