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 ci...