For years, the German town of Bielefeld has been the butt of a national joke: that it doesn’t exist. On Saturday, its football club Arminia Bielefeld will have a chance to put the city squarely on the map, by lifting the German Cup in Berlin. Facing top-tier VfB Stuttgart, the third-division side is eyeing the first major trophy in a 120-year history marked by as many stumbles as successes.
Bielefeld played in the Bundesliga as recently as 2022, but
was relegated at the end of that season and again the following year, sending
it to the verge of financial collapse. Managing director Christoph Wortmann
said this year’s turnaround was fuelled by “team spirit, will and hard work”.
On the way to the final, Arminia knocked out Bundesliga heavyweights Union
Berlin, Freiburg, Werder Bremen and Bayer Leverkusen — the latter boasting a
squad worth 80 times its own.
“The euphoria could not be bigger,” Wortmann informed the
Financial Times of the feeling in the city ahead of the final. In a city long
mocked as being fictitious — a joke so enduring that Angela Merkel once
referenced it, and the city’s marketing team promised a €1mn reward to anyone
who could prove it’s not real — the football team has become a symbol of
defiance.
Wortmann said he was aware of the urban myth before moving
to Bielefeld: “I have found it,” he remarked wryly. He added that the region
has “unbelievable strength and power”, home to global firms such as food
conglomerate Oetker, top of the range household appliances maker Miele and major media group
Bertelsmann.
But the club itself has been on the brink of non-existence
twice in the last decade. Back in 2018, local companies bought Arminia’s
stadium, the Alm, and acquired a minority stake to stave off insolvency. But
the 2023 crash was just as bad: a 95 per cent collapse in TV revenues left the club
with a €12.6mn hole and €3.6mn in unpaid transfer liabilities — for players no
longer even on the payroll.
Only a youth player and Fabian Klos, the all-time top
scorer, remained under contract. Wortmann recalls: “When people ask if I sleep
badly now, I say, ‘No — back then, I did.’” Only through advance sponsor
payments and deep cost cuts, including halving back-office staff to around 40,
did Arminia barely secure its third-tier licence.
Coach Mitch Kniat assembled a squad on an €8mn budget,
drawing some of the highest attendances in the third division and earning
promotion back to the second tier for next season. Membership has surged from
15,000 last year to around 24,000, and merchandise sales have hit records.
The club is using the windfall of more than €9mn from its
cup run to pay down liabilities and invest in infrastructure, including a
modern IT system and an Under-21 team to develop talent. Wortmann hopes to
start an “upward spiral” and bring “calm and confidence” to a club that has
spent years at “breaking point”.
But first comes
Stuttgart. For Bielefeld, the final in Berlin is more than a football match.
It’s a chance, Wortmann told the Pink ‘Un, to emulate the club’s ancient
namesake Arminius: a Germanic hero who fought the invading Romans and, against
all the odds, defeated a vastly stronger foe.
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