Bundesliga
Leverkusen to host Stuttgart in Supercup
Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen and 2023/24 runners-up VfB Stuttgart will make their Supercup debuts in August.
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 are invited take part instead.
With Leverkusen beating Bundesliga 2's Kaiserslautern in the 2023/24 DFB Cup, Stuttgart - runners-up in the recently concluded top-flight campaign after pipping Bayern Munich to second - will face Die Werkself in the 2024 Supercup.
Watch: Leverkusen's road to the Bundesliga title
The 2024 Supercup is scheduled for Saturday 17 August (kick-off 8.30pm CEST) and will be held at Leverkusen's BayArena.
Xabi Alonso's side are bidding to become the ninth different winners of the one-game competition, following Leipzig's triumph over Bayern last summer.
Watch: A drone flight through Leverkusen's BayArena
This will be the first edition of the Supercup since 2011, when Schalke beat arch-rivals Borussia Dortmund on penalties, not to involve Bayern.
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.