Stuttgart Wins German Cup Final
Stuttgart survived a late scare from outsider Arminia Bielefeld to win the German Cup final in the Olympic Stadium in Berlin on Saturday evening. The Bundesliga team had driven home four goals with over 20 minutes to go in the game.
Dominant Performance
Nick Woltemade opened the scoring in the 15th minute to pay off all the nerves that the Stuttgart fans could have felt against a Bielefeld side that had unloaded the Bundesliga giants Bayer Leverkusen in the semi-finals. Enzo Millot doubled Stuttgart’s lead after 22 minutes, with Denis Undav underlining Stuttgart’s superiority just six minutes later when he took the Bundesliga team 3-0 with less than half an hour gone. Millot added his second and Stuttgart’s fourth after 66 minutes.
Late Fightback
Bielefeld gave their followers something to cheer about when they scored two goals in the last 10 minutes – a Julian Kania effort and an own goal from Josha Vagnoman – to make the scoreline more respectable. Stuttgart caught up the trophy for the first time since 1997 when the Bundesliga club increased its fourth German Cup title.
Not a Fairytale End for Arminia
Despite the result, Bielefeld had a lot to be proud of, having never reached the German Cup final before, and was only the fourth side from the third division to qualify for the occasion. Since its first Bundesliga season in 1970-71, the club has yo-yoed between the first and third tiers of German football. Their last stint in the top class was followed by successive relegation battles in 2022 and 2023.
Bielefeld’s Impressive Run
Bielefeld overcame four Bundesliga sides en route to the final and defeated Union Berlin in the second round, Freiburg in the round of 16, Werder Bremen in the quarterfinals, and Leverkusen in the semifinals. Although Berlin’s Olympia Stadium has a capacity of 74,000, around 100,000 Arminia fans, about a third of the Bielefeld population, traveled to the German capital for the historic occasion. Bielefeld won the second division at the beginning of May and are only the fourth club in the history of the German Cup to reach the final from the third division.
Stuttgart Finds Success
Even while its youth academy remained talent-rich, Stuttgart had disappeared from the scene after winning its last Bundesliga title in 2007. Stuttgart had recently sat bottom of the Bundesliga and stared at a third descent in a decade when it appointed Sebastian Hoeness in April 2023. Hoeness, the nephew of Bayern Munich powerbroker Uli, kept Stuttgart up via a relegation playoff. A season later, he led the club to second place, 40 points better than last season, and back to the Champions League. This season, Stuttgart ended mid-table, juggling European commitments and its German Cup run, but the future remains bright.
