Bundesliga
Arminia Bielefeld have just won the third division title but are now hoping to return to Bundesliga 2 as DFB Cup winners - bundesliga.com gives you five reasons why they can make history and defeat top-flight VfB Stuttgart in Berlin on Saturday.
>>> Follow the cup final here!
1) Bundesliga boys beware!
If Stuttgart are in any doubt about Bielefeld's quality, they should bear in mind this statistic: Xabi Alonso had not lost a DFB Cup tie since taking charge at Bayer Leverkusen in the 2023/24 campaign until his team was beaten in the semi-finals.
Leverkusen - Bundesliga runners-up and last season's unbeaten double winners - were in front in that game too. So were Freiburg - fifth in the top flight this season - before they were disposed of in the round of 16. Union Berlin, who didn't even score, and Werder Bremen were also beaten as Bielefeld became the first third-tier team to defeat four top-flight opponents en route to the final.
While coach Mitch Kniat said he would make "an exception" and "drink half a beer" after the win over Leverkusen, key midfielder Mael Corboz called it "surreal", and suggested that Bielefeld's name might simply be on the cup this year.
"I could not really believe it," said the Bielefeld captain. "It was the worst case scenario to concede in the first 20 minutes, but we have been through so much this year and last year. In a relegation battle in the third division and one year later we are in the DFB Cup final. The fans had been saying we're going to Berlin since January."
2) Nothing breeds success like success
Despite a run of three successive wins to end the season, Stuttgart have stumbled in the wake of their 2023/24 runners-up finish in the Bundesliga, while Bielefeld have been on a roll for months. Kniat's side suffered just one defeat in their last 15 league games, winning 12 in that series to climb from eighth in mid-February to win the title by two points from Dynamo Dresden.
Watch: Who are Arminia Bielefeld?
"Our determination, team spirit, and mental strength are what set us apart," said goalkeeper Jonas Kersken, the back stop of the division's stingiest defence.
"We've conceded the fewest goals in the league. Everyone here gives their all for each other, always. Now we have another week of training, and then we'll see how it goes in Berlin. I think we all know that a lot is possible there. We have to stay calm, and then I'm confident."
3) Goal threat from everywhere
Bielefeld were not the top scorers in the third tier, but they did rattle in 64 goals in 38 matches and shared the strikes around. Corboz took over as captain from Fabian Klos last summer having only signed in January 2024 - which says much about Kniat's view of the American's character - and weighed in with 10 goals this season.
Fellow midfielder Marius Wörl - once of the Bayern Munich youth academy - has nine, including the vital equaliser against Leverkusen and three goals and three assists across five cup games - the most goal involvements of any player in the competition. Defender Louis Oppie has two, and it says a lot about the team effort that top scorer Julian Kania has 16 in all competitions, but just one from the cup run. He did not even come off the bench against Leverkusen…
Watch: All of Bielefeld's goals in their run to the final
"Mitch has never altered his style of play, even though he was criticised a lot. I think he keeps it simple: he believes in his quality and that of his coaching staff," said winger Jonny Grodowski to explain the team ethos and confidence Kniat has instilled to make each of his players a goal threat. "It's important for the team that everything isn't turned over after two bad games. We're proud to play for Arminia Bielefeld. It's quite simply a great club. I think something is being built here and the journey is still not at an end."
4) Hearts beating for Bielefeld
Researchers from Bielefeld University are planning on conducting a study on how the DFB Cup final will affect the pulses and blood pressure of fans who travel to Berlin. Via smartwatches, they will monitor up to 300 supporters in an attempt to work out how football can cause heart attacks and other emergency medical conditions. They are going to have their pick of blue-and-white clad guinea pigs as the town of 340,000 inhabitants empties and heads en masse to the game.
"I think we'll be taking the whole of Bielefeld with us," said Kniat. "I'm curious whether there has ever been as many hotel rooms booked as there have been today."
Some of those will have seen their team come close before - Bielefeld reached the semi-finals in 2014/15 - but now they could witness history as only the fourth team from the third division to reach the final could become the first team ever from that level to win it.
Hertha Berlin II (1993), Energie Cottbus (1997), and Union Berlin (2001) are those that achieved the feat of reaching the showpiece occasion, only to fall to top-flight opponents - Cottbus were actually beaten by Joachim Löw's Stuttgart side. But Bielefeld believe they can buck the trend, shock their big-time opponents, who played in the UEFA Champions League this season, and rewrite the German football history books.
5) Bielefeld are (almost) back
If you head towards Bielefeld, you might catch a glimpse of the Hermannsdenkmal - Hermann's monument - which has the statue of Arminius on top. A chieftain of the Germanic Cherusci tribe, Arminius inflicted a surprise and devastating defeat on three Roman legions in AD 9. Head to Bielefeld this week, and Arminius is wearing a Bielefeld shirt.
What the legend behind the club's name did to the Roman Empire, Kniat's side now hope to do to Stuttgart.
Perhaps ominously, Bielefeld lost 6-0 when the sides last met in the second round of the DFB Cup in October 2022, but they were unbeaten in the duo's last four Bundesliga encounters, winning three of them.
And they will go into the game with no fear, because the club has overcome much bigger challenges. "We had just two players under contract on the 14 June," said CEO Michael Mutzel of the dire situation in summer 2023 after seeing the club tumble from the top flight to the third tier in successive seasons, slashing the budget from €35 million to just 1.3 million. "We tried to save money everywhere. Travel, food, everything."
Win on Saturday, and Mutzel will not have to be quite so thrifty.