Stuttgart survived a late scare against underdogs Arminia Bielefeld to win the final 4-2 at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin on Saturday night.
The Bundesliga side had been cruising after going four goals up with over 20 minutes left to play.
But Stuttgart were made to hold off a late fightback from the Third Division champions, who scored twice in the last 10 minutes.
No fairytale ending for Arminia
Nick Woltemade opened the scoring in the 15th minute to settle any nerves the Stuttgart fans might have been feeling against a Bielefeld side that had dumped out Bundesliga giants Bayer Leverkusen in the semi-final.
Enzo Millot doubled Stuttgart’s lead after 22 minutes, with Denis Undav underlining Stuttgart’s superiority just six minutes later as he put the Bundesliga team 3-0 up with less than half an hour played.
Millot added his second and Stuttgart’s fourth after 66 minutes.
Bielefeld did give their supporters something to cheer about, however, bagging two goals — a Julian Kania effort and an own goal from Josha Vagnoman — in the last 10 minutes to make the scoreline more respectable.
Stuttgart clinched the trophy for the first time since 1997, as the Bundesliga club lifted their fourth German Cup title.
Bielefeld’s impressive run to German Cup final
Despite the result, Bielefeld had plenty to be proud of having never previously made the German Cup final and became just the fourth side from the third division to qualify for the occasion.
Since their first season in 1970-71, the club have bounced between the first and third tiers of German football. Their last spell in the top-flight was followed by successive relegations in 2022 and 2023.
Bielefeld overcame four Bundesliga sides in their run to the final, beating Union Berlin in the second round, in the Round of 16, Werder Bremen in the quarterfinals and .
Although Berlin’s Olympic Stadium holds 74,000, around 100,000 Arminia fans, roughly a third of Bielefeld’s population, descended on the German capital for the historic occasion.
Bielefeld won promotion to the second division earlier in May. They are just the fourth club in German Cup history to reach the final from the third division.
Stuttgart find success after years in wilderness
Even while their youth academy continued to churn out talent, Stuttgart had fallen away after winning their last Bundesliga title in 2007.
Stuttgart had sat dead last in the Bundesliga and were staring at a third relegation in a decade, when they appointed Sebastian Hoeness in April 2023.
Hoeness, the nephew of Bayern Munich powerbroker Uli, kept Stuttgart in the top-flight via a relegation playoff.
A season later, he guided the club to second place, 40 points better than the previous season, and back into the Champions League.
This season, Stuttgart finished in mid-table as they juggled European commitments and their German Cup run, but the future remains bright.
Edited by: Alex Berry
The post Stuttgart beat Arminia Bielefeld 4-2 to win German Cup appeared first on Deutsche Welle.
