On paper this is the softest tie for any of the Bundesliga clubs. Borussia Dortmund drew HEBC Hamburg, a fifth-tier Oberliga side, away from home.
RTL still have it in free-to-air, so somebody fancies the romance of it.
There's a quirk in the timing as well. BVB and Bayern were both held back from the main first-round window because of Saturday's Supercup. While everybody else is chasing a giant-killing story next weekend, die Schwarzgelben are waiting on a 20:45 kick-off on the 1st September.
Why the tie is being played in the Volksparkstadion
HEBC will not be hosting this at home. Their own ground, the Professor-Reinmüller-Platz, doesn't meet DFB security requirements, so Hamburger SV are lending them the Volksparkstadion for the night.
Think about that from the amateur side's point of view. An Oberliga club gets one evening in a 57,000-seater against last season's Bundesliga runners-up, cameras and all. Good luck to them.
Dortmund haven't gone out at this stage since 2005, so the pressure in Hamburg runs one way only. Slip up against a side four divisions below and Kovac will hear about it until Christmas, whatever else he wins this season. He knows it.
The cup is also the shortest route out of a trophy drought that has now reached five years. BVB Buzz made exactly that point when it covered the draw back in the summer.
Who this fixture is actually for
This is where the new signings earn their keep.
Giannis Konstantelias only arrived from PAOK on the 17th. Joey Veerman signed the day after. Neither will start on Saturday, so a Tuesday night in Hamburg is the obvious place to give them 60 minutes together.
The same goes further down the squad. Konstantinos Karetsas is 18 and already close to undroppable after his goal at Arsenal. Joane Gadou is 19 and about to be thrown in at centre-back against the champions.
Filippo Mané, Fabio Silva, Justin Lerma and Kaua Prates all need competitive football that counts for something.
Marcel Sabitzer is the awkward one. Ruhr Nachrichten reported that he left the club's pre-season dinner early on Sunday. With Veerman now through the door, his minutes look thinner than ever.
If he's still a Dortmund player on the 1st September, he'll be in Hamburg wondering how it came to this at 32.
BVB Buzz has already looked at who benefits from Veerman's arrival. The flip side is a squad list carrying more good midfielders than there are shirts.
Kovac won't say any of this out loud, of course. He'll talk about respect for the opponent and the danger of an upset, because that is the script in the week of a fifth-tier cup tie. Then he'll name a team with five or six changes in it.
Verdict: HEBC Hamburg is a free hit for Dortmund's fringe men, so Kovac should treat it as exactly that and get the newcomers an hour each.
Add us as a preferred source on Google