Ruthless Stuttgart beats Arminia Bielefeld 4-2 in German Cup final

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This article was published 24/05/2025 (498 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BERLIN (AP) — Four mistakes, four goals.

Stuttgart ruthlessly capitalized on errors in Arminia Bielefeld’s defense to win the German Cup with a 4-2 victory in the final on Saturday.

Enzo Millot scored twice and Germany forwards Nick Woltemade and Deniz Undav got the others as Stuttgart claimed its fourth German Cup win and the first since 1997.

“We’ve written history today. The guys can be proud of what they delivered,” Stuttgart chairman Alexander Wehrle said. “There’s no way we’re going to bed tonight.”

Bielefeld, the third-division champion, was playing in the final for the first time as only the fourth representative from that division to ever reach German soccer’s end-of-season showpiece.

But there was no fairytale ending for the team’s American captain, Mael Corboz, after he helped it knock out defending champion Bayer Leverkusen in the semifinals and a host of Bundesliga clubs en route to the final.

Substitute Julian Kania scored a late consolation and Stuttgart’s Josha Vagnoman conceded an own goal a minute after that to get the Bielefeld fans singing again before the end.

Both sets of supporters displayed huge choreographies before the match in front of 74,000 spectators at Berlin’s Olympiastadion, where they repeatedly ignored appeals to stop setting off pyrotechnics.

The Stuttgart players and coach Sebastian Hoeneß ran to their supporters after the final whistle to be feted with more flares and fireworks in front of masked ultras. A long line of police and stewards stood just behind the players, keeping a careful watch.

The cup win comes after Hoeneß led Stuttgart to second place in the Bundesliga last season. This season was complicated by Champions League participation. The team lost a club-record six home Bundesliga games in a row, but finished the season strongly with three straight wins.

“We always had the feeling that we were on the right path, even if the results didn’t always go our way or weren’t understandable,” Hoeneß said in the post-game press conference. “That’s why it was important for us to stay cool and believe in ourselves, because we can really play well when we stay together. And then the results came, which helped.”

The coach was cut off from saying any more by his players bursting into the room and dousing him with beer. Hoeneß grabbed the trophy and went off to celebrate with them.

Hoeneß’ cup-winning predecessor was Joachim Löw, who led Stuttgart to the 1997 title in his first job in senior management. Löw later achieved fame as Germany coach with the highlight a World Cup win in 2014.

Stuttgart was given a boost before the final when Germany midfielder Angelo Stiller returned after two weeks out with an ankle injury.

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Stiller set up two goals as Stuttgart raced into a 3-0 lead inside the first half hour. All three goals came with Stuttgart pouncing on mistakes, with Stiller sending Woltemade on his way for the opener. The fourth also came after a mistake with Millot sealing the result with his second goal in the 66th.

Bielefeld’s supporters consoled themselves by lighting flares, while their counterparts used the pyrotechnics to celebrate.

Bielefeld next plays the Westphalia Cup final against fourth-tier side Sportfreunde Lotte on Thursday. The match was rescheduled because of the team’s participation in the national cup final.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer