Bayer Leverkusen to contest 2024 Supercup - who will they face?
Newly crowned Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen will make their DFL Supercup debut in August, but their opponents are as yet unknown.
Traditionally, the new season's curtain-raising fixture pits the defending Bundesliga champions against the DFB Cup holders. However, if the cup winner also lifted the league title, then the previous campaign's Bundesliga runners-up take part instead.
With Leverkusen set to face Bundesliga 2's Kaiserslautern in the 2023/24 DFB Cup on May 25, there is every chance either Bayern Munich or VfB Stuttgart - currently a respective second and third in the Bundesliga, separated by goal difference - will face Die Werkself in the 2024 Supercup.
That, of course, assumes Leverkusen win the cup - but if relegation-threatened Kaiserslautern spring a surprise, they will lock horns with Leverkusen in a rerun of the DFB Cup final. The Red Devils would also qualify for the 2024/25 UEFA Europa League, potentially even as a 3. Liga club given their precarious league position.
RB Leipzig and Borussia Dortmund are not completely out of the Supercup running, but are seven points behind second and third, with five rounds of top-flight fixtures remaining.
Watch: Bayer Leverkusen's title-winning highlights
The 2024 Supercup is scheduled for Saturday, 17 August, with the home team to be decided after the conclusion of the DFB Cup. Leverkusen are bidding to become the ninth different winners of the one-game competition, following Leipzig's triumph over Bayern last summer.
Alonso's Bundesliga champions could even take to the Supercup stage as quadruple winners, if they win the DFB Cup, go all the way in this season's Europa League, and then add the UEFA Super Cup to their collection on 14 August. The latter is a one-off game against the UEFA Champions League winners, to be held in Warsaw three days before the German Supercup.
The Supercup previously existed between 1987 and 1996, but was organised by the DFB (German FA). It was then replaced by the Ligapokal (League Cup), until the DFL re-introduced the Supercup in its current guise in 2010. Leverkusen were DFB Supercup runners-up in 1993, having won the previous season's domestic cup.
Click here for more on the Supercup!
Want more Bundesliga Action?
Related news
Will Bayern consolidate second place?
Bayern could tighten their grip on the runners-up spot on Saturday, but face a Frankfurt side hoping to secure European qualification.
How do Leverkusen and Stuttgart stack up?
History and a Champions League qualification spot are the respective targets as the two biggest sensations of the 2023/24 season clash on Matchday 31...
Leverkusen continue Invincible quest against Stuttgart
The Bundesliga champions are just four games from becoming the first German club to go a whole Bundesliga campaign unbeaten - but high-flying Stuttgart stand in their way on Saturday.