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THE SHOCK-O-METER still hasn’t recovered after Eintracht Frankfurt stunned Bundesliga champions FC Bayern München to claim the 2018 DFB Cup in Berlin.
The contest will live long in the memory – but how does it compare to some of the all-time DFB Cup final classics?
1953 – The first final: RotWeiss Essen 2-1 Alemannia Aachen
While the modern-day version of the DFB Cup has room for 64 teams to compete across five rounds, only 32 clubs entered the first edition in the 1952/53 season – a full 10 years before the Bundesliga was formed. Strictly speaking, it was the ninth year of a competition that had previously existed as the Tschammerpokal, but it was the first under its new guise and the first time it was held since the end of World War II.
Over 37,000 fans crammed into the Rheinstadion in Dusseldorf to witness history being made as Franz Islacker put Essen 1-0 up in the 32nd minute, before Helmut Rahn – who went on to become a Germany legend – doubled the advantage early in the second half. Aachen pulled one back through Josef Derwall shortly afterwards, but were ultimately unable to prevent Essen lifting the maiden title.
1985 – The biggest upset: Bayer 05 Uerdingen 2-1 FC Bayern München
Picture, if you will, the context going into this final. Bayern were top of the Bundesliga at the time and would be crowned champions a few weeks after this game. They had won all seven of their previous appearances in the DFB Cup final, and had players of the calibre of Lothar Matthäus, Klaus Augenthaler and Dieter Hoeness in the starting line-up. As if that were not enough, they were managed by the iconic Udo Lattek, who to this day still holds the record for most Bundesliga titles won as coach (eight).
Imagine, then, the uphill task that their opponents faced when Hoeness put Bayern in front in the eighth minute. Undeterred, Uerdingen, a small club from the Rhineland region that had only earned promotion back to the Bundesliga two years previously, hit back almost immediately through Horst Feilzer. Not content with that, they turned the game on its head after the break when Wolfgang Schäfer scored what would prove to be the winner against a 10-man Bayern side who had Wolfgang Dremmler sent off early in the second half. To say the result was a shock would be quite the understatement.
1993 – David vs Goliath: Bayer Leverkusen 1-0 Hertha Berlin reserves
Yes, that’s right: for the first and only time in DFB Cup history, a reserve team made it into the final, to mark the competition’s 50th year (reserve sides are now not allowed to enter). The underdogs were in Germany’s third division at the time, but driven on by midfielder Carsten Ramelow – who later joined Leverkusen and played in both the UEFA Champions League and FIFA World Cup finals in 2002 – they progressed to the title decider, beating Bundesliga side 1. FC Nürnberg 2-1 along the way in the last eight.
While most neutrals may have been rooting for the rank outsiders, it was always going to be a tall order. Leverkusen finished fifth in the Bundesliga that season and had also beaten the Hertha first team 1-0 in the round of 16. The Hertha hopefuls battled bravely, but a second-half strike from Ulf Kirsten was enough to earn Leverkusen just their second ever title following the 1988 European Cup.
2012 – Highest scoring final: Borussia Dortmund 5-2 Bayern München
Borussia Dortmund capped a memorable two-year run as the top dogs in German football with an incredible 5-2 triumph over Bayern in 2012 to complete a domestic double. Shinji Kagawa gave Jurgen Klopp’s men the perfect start with a goal in the third minute, but a 25th-minute Arjen Robben penalty levelled matters once again.
Yet with Klopp beating the drum on the touchline, Dortmund ramped up the decibels at the Olympiastadion with a furious spell either side of half-time, and goals from Mats Hummels and Robert Lewandowski put BVB 4-1 ahead. Franck Ribery pulled another goal back for Bayern, but Lewandowski sealed his hat-trick (and quite possible his subsequent transfer to Bayern!) shortly afterwards.
2013 – The treble-sealer: Bayern München 3-2 VfB Stuttgart
The DFB Cup final was the last game on the 2012/13 calendar and for Bayern, who had already won the Bundesliga and lifted the Champions League against Dortmund the previous week, and it represented a unique opportunity fore a treble unprecedented in German football. The fact it was also the match that would usher in Heynckes’ (first) retirement meant the stakes were even higher for the Bavarians, who were eager to give him a worthy send-off.
The match was a tense affair initially. Heynckes’ side eventually wrested control of the encounter and took a threegoal lead thanks to a Thomas Müller penalty and a Mario Gomez brace. Stuttgart staged a late fightback with two goals from Martin Harnik, but Bayern held on to complete a historic treble and prompt club legends Franz Beckenbauer and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge to call that year’s crop the “best Bayern team ever.”