VfB Stuttgart's cup defence took another step in the right direction after their win against Bochum. - © Leon Kuegeler

2. Bundesliga, bundesliga

VfB Stuttgart continue their DFB Cup defence with win against 10-man Bochum

03.12.2025

VfB Stuttgart bounced back from their league defeat against Hamburg in perfect fashion, as they beat Bundesliga 2 side Bochum 2-0 in the DFB Cup round of 16.

Bochum 0-2 VfB Stuttgart
Goals: 0-1 Strompf 12‘ (o.g.), 0-2 Undav 47‘ (assist: Leweling)
Red card: Strompf 45

Stuttgart dominated possession in the first half and then took a deserved lead, with Philipp Strompf’s own goal a reward for their early persistence. Bochum responded well though, with Farid Alfa-Ruprecht and Kjell Wätjen stretching the Swabians’ backline on a few occasions. The hosts couldn’t convert their attacks into a goal however, and then went down to 10 men after Strompf brought down Deniz Undav as the last man on the brink of half-time.

Deniz Undav's scoring streak continued with a delightful header for Stuttgart's second goal. - Leon Kuegeler

Sebastian Hoeneß’s men made the perfect start to the second half, with Undav flicking home a header from a Jamie Leweling cross just a minute after the delayed re-start. A man down and now two behind, Bochum couldn’t offer the same competitive edge they showed in the first half, and Stuttgart were barely tested in the second 45.

As it happened!

0 - 2

(0 - 1)

Bochum

FINAL

Stuttgart

DFB Pokal
Round of 16 Round of 16 Vonovia Ruhrstadion

Full-time: Bochum 0-2 VfB Stuttgart

The visitors advance after a comfortable win, with Bochum simply overwhelmed in the second half. Stuttgart dominated the ball with little resistance, with Undav's early goal in the second 45 giving them the breathing space they needed to be able to cruise to victory, over a Bochum side who had shown glimpses of how dangerous they can be in the first half.

Full-time

90'

+ 1

Three added minutes

The finish line is in sight for both sides now.

89'

Substitution

Leonidas Stergiou

Finn Jeltsch

87'

Headed for victory

Only a few minutes remain of normal time, and Stuttgart don't look like they'll be letting their comfortable lead slip.

82'

Nartey fires over

A bit of space opens up ahead of him just outside the box, but he can't find the target with his effort.

78'

Bochum defending well

The ten men of Bochum are managing to keep their opponents in front of them for now, with Stuttgart losing some momentum through their substitutions.

76'

Substitution

Chema Andrés

Angelo Stiller

76'

Substitution

Badredine Bouanani

Jamie Leweling

76'

Substitution

Philipp Hofmann

Kjell Wätjen

72'

Cruise control

Stuttgart aren't moving the ball with great intensity, nevertheless, Bochum are struggling to get a foothold in this half.

66'

Stiller can't find a white shirt

His run deep into the Bochum box is found and he crosses back into the centre of the area from the byline, but there aren't enough teammates in the box.

62'

Fresh legs

Bochum continue to make changes in an effort to pull themselves back into the game despite their man disadvantage.

61'

Substitution

Nikolas Nartey

Ramon Hendriks

61'

Substitution

Chris Führich

Bilal El Khannouss

61'

Substitution

Kacper Koscierski

Farid Alfa-Ruprecht

61'

Substitution

Felix Passlack

Leandro Morgalla

56'

Too cute

El Khannouss finds himself with space on the edge of the area but instead of shooting he tries to slide Undav in, but only finds a Bochum shirt with his attempted pass.

53'

Probing for a third

That quick goal has only increased Stuttgart's confidence, and they've had Bochum pinned deep in their own half since the goal.

Undav gives Stuttgart breathing space, 2-0!

Leweling's first-time, in-swinging cross finds the head of Undav, who flicks the ball on into the far bottom corner from close range.

47'

Deniz Undav

GOAL!

0:2

46'

The action resumes!

We're finally back underway here in Bochum.

46'

Kick-off delayed

We're still waiting for the whistle to blow, with smoke from the stands spilling onto the pitch.

46'

Substitution

Moritz-Broni Kwarteng

Francis Onyeka

46'

Substitution

Erhan Mašović

Cajetan Lenz

Kick-off!

Half-time: Bochum 0-1 Stuttgart

The hosts go into the break a goal down and now a man down. The visitors started brightly and deservedly took the lead, even if it was via an own goal. Bochum reacted well however, and Wätjen caused them problems on numerous occasions with his directness. Jus before the break the hosts were then dealt another heavy blow, with Strompf being dismissed after a pooor challenge on Undav as the last man back in defence.

Half-time

45'

Strompf dismissed!

After review, Strompf's yellow card is upgraded due to him being the last man back and denying a goalscoring opportunity.

45'

Red card

Philipp Strompf

44'

Under review

Strompf's poor challenge on Undav is under review, with the Bochum defender being the furthest man back at the time of the tackle.

43'

Wittek blazes over

Driving toward goal in a central position, the Bochum man chooses to go alone instead on slipping in a teammate and fires his shot well over the bar.

39'

Caught in two minds

Leweling gets in behind the Bochum defence and has a clear sight of goal, but tries to cross it instead of shooting and only finds a Bochum shirt.

36'

Missed opportunity

Jeltsch slips on the ball and Onyeka sets Wätjen away on the counter. He drives into the box but his touch takes him slightly too wide, and his tame finish rolls straight into the arms of Bredlow.

32'

Great cross

Wätjen delivers a dangerous low cross just in front of the six-yard box, but neither Onyeka nor Alfa-Ruprecht can knock it home.

28'

Tough to break down

Stuttgart are dominating the passing statistics, but are struggling to find space in the final third.

Stuttgart regaining grip

The visitors have kept the ball better in the past few minutes and are looking to get a second goal.

20'

Big chance for Alfa-Ruprecht!

A long ball over the top catches the Stuttgart defence off guard, and sees Alfa-Ruprecht racing toward goal with little competition. Bredlow races out toward the ball, making the youngster rush his finish, and his lobbed attempt consequently misses the target.

17'

Good tempo

That goal has lifted Stuttgart, but equally encouraged Bochum to keep testing the visitors' backline.

Stuttgart lead!

A long throw into the box from Hendriks is met by Strompf, but he gets underneath the ball and sends his header looping backward over his own 'keeper, and the visitors have the advantage.

12'

Philipp Strompf

OWN GOAL!

0:1

11'

Hosts coming alive

That Wätjen chance appears to have given Bochum real belief. They've broken at speed a couple of times since, but to little effect.

Wätjen tests Stuttgart

He breaks down the left before cutting inside Assignon and firing toward the near post, where Chabot bravely heads clear.

Visitors in control

Bochum haven't seen much of the ball in these opening exchanges, but so far they're keeping Stuttgart at bay.

Ambitious Undav

The in-form forward tries to lob Horn from the edge of the area, but gets too much on it and sees it float over the goal.

Off we go!

Bochum get today's action underway.

Kick-off!

More on those teams

Stuttgart make a number of changes from their recent loss to Hamburg in the league, the most notable of which being Nübel dropping to the bench. The likes of Undav, Leweling and Stiller all return to the starting XI. For Bochum, Hofmann, Holtmann and Miyoshi, who all started their recent win over Fürth, are replaced by Alfa-Ruprecht, Pannewig and Wätjen.

Bochum starting line-up

Horn (c) - Morgalla, Loosli, Strompf, Wittek - Lenz, Sissoko - Alfa-Ruprecht, Wätjen, Pannewig - Onyeka

Bochum subs

Thiede, Rösch, Sissoko, Obafemi, Passlack, Kwarteng, Mašović, Hofmann, Koscierski

Stuttgart starting line-up

Bredlow - Jeltsch, Chabot, Hendriks - Assignon, Karazor (c), Stiller, Mittelstädt - El Khannouss, Leweling - Undav

Stuttgart subs

Nübel, Al-Dakhil, Vagnoman, Tomás, Führich, Stergiou, Bouanani, Nartey, Chema

Bochum with cup edge?

While Stuttgart had have the better of their historical match-ups with Bochum on the whole, it was the hosts who won the last DFB Cup meeting between the two. They beat the Swabians 2-0 in the first round back in 2015, with Simon Terodde bagging a brace.

Stuttgart win the historical battle

These two teams have met a whopping 82 times, with the Swabians winning 44 of those meetings. The remaining 38 games saw 20 draws and 18 Bochum wins, given today's guests a win percentage of 53.7 against the hosts.

Uwe Rösler on facing Stuttgart

"I've been very impressed with Stuttgart. The options they have in attack, how boldly they press, their physicality in the tackle and their work ethic – it's absolutely top notch. We're competing against one of the best teams and one of the best coaches in Germany."

Sebastian Hoeneß on facing Bochum

"We're in for a real cup battle. Since Uwe Rösler took over as coach at Bochum, they're top of the second division in many statistics. There's a good mix of experienced and young players in the squad. It's a knockout game, so there are no second chances. Our clear aim is to reach the quarter-finals."

Early Stuttgart team news

Dan-Axel Zagadou, Luca Jaquez, Tiago Tomás, Yannik Keitel, Justin Diehl, and Ermedin Demirović will all miss this clash. Other than that, the Swabians have a full squad to choose from as they look to continue the defence of their title.

Early Bochum team news

Ibrahima Sissoko marked his first start since August with a double in Bochum's 3-0 victory at Greuther Fürth on Saturday, but it remains to be seen whether the midfielder will feature in Uwe Rösler's starting XI against Stuttgart. Matúš Bero remains sidelined with an ankle injury, while Kevin Vogt is still recovering from knee surgery.

Stuttgart - the story so far

The 2024/25 DFB Cup winners had Lady Luck on their side in the first round as they defeated Eintracht Braunschweig 8-7 on penalties following a remarkable 4-4 draw after extra time. They made light work of Mainz in the second round, though, triumphing 2-0 at the MEWA Arena.

Bochum - the story so far

Bochum needed extra time to defeat Berliner FC Dynamo in the first round, eventually prevailing 3-1 against the fourth-tier side. They pulled off one of the results of the second round in late October, however, defeating top-flight Augsburg 1-0 thanks to Gerrit Holtmann's first-half strike.

Head-to-head

Stuttgart's 4-0 victory in April was their 44th win in 82 meetings with Bochum in all competitions. The most recent of the Ruhr outfit's 18 triumphs was a 1-0 win on Matchday 18 of the 2023/24 campaign.

2:15

Watch: Greuther Fürth 0-3 Bochum

Bochum put three important points between them and second-bottom Greuther at the weekend with an impressive performance ahead of the visit of VfB.

Stuttgart form

Sunday's reverse at Hamburg ended a run of four games without defeat for Sebastian Hoeneß's side. They remain firmly in the race for a top-four spot, and only four points behind second-placed RB Leipzig.

Bochum form

Bochum are currently on the up, having lost just one of their past seven games in all competitions. That run of form has lifted them up to 12th in the Bundesliga 2 standings.

2:03

Watch: Bochum 0-4 Stuttgart - previous meeting

Stuttgart were victorious the last time these two met, in April earlier this year. Bochum were relegated to the second tier at the end of the campaign.

1:02

Watch: Hamburg 2-1 Stuttgart - highlights

At the weekend, Stuttgart suffered late heartbreak as they conceded a last-gasp strike against Hamburg.

Bochum dominant

An early blitz from Bochum against Greuther Fürth secured a 3-0 win at the weekend, with all three goals coming in the opening 20 minutes.

Welcome!

Welcome and thank you for joining us for build-up and live coverage of the DFB Cup Round of 16 match between VfL Bochum and VfB Stuttgart. The game is scheduled to kick off at 6:00 p.m. CET on Wednesday.