DFB Cup
4:1 against Freiburg: Wolfsburg’s footballers win the cup final
Marina Hegering (left) and Alexandra Popp from VfL Wolfsburg cheer with the DFB Cup in their arms
© David Indianlied / DPA
The footballers of VfL Wolfsburg have won the women’s DFB Cup. Almost 45,000 people watched the final against SC Freiburg in the stadium.
After 95 exhausting minutes, Alexandra Popp fell to her knees, exhausted, and a few minutes later the Wolfsburg captain, together with Svenja Huth, lifted the eleven-kilo DFB Cup with verve. Despite initial difficulties, the VfL soccer team won the trophy for the ninth time in a row and, after beating SC Freiburg 4-1 (1-1) on Thursday, celebrated in front of a record crowd of 44,808 spectators in Cologne. “Wow! I’m very happy,” said Popp on ARD with a badly battered voice and raved about the atmosphere: “Only now can you see what we’ve done with the EM. It was an amazing atmosphere here in the stadium. That makes it Football that so many fans supported us, support Freiburg and support women’s football.”
The Wolfsburg women danced on the lawn to the sounds of “Sweet Caroline”, the hit of the EM 2022 in England. The favorite was crowned the sole record winner with their tenth success. After the practically lost championship, VfL won their first title this season. In the final of the Champions League on June 3 in Eindhoven against FC Barcelona, they can go one better – but that will be difficult in this form.
VfL Wolfsburg takes the lead through an own goal
Four days after the surprising 4-0 draw in the Bundesliga at Eintracht Frankfurt, coach Tommy Stroot’s VfL women left no doubt that they wanted to win their ninth cup in a row. After a cross from Lynn Wilms, Lisa Karl maneuvered the ball into her own goal to make it 0:1 (4th minute), even though Popp was initially given as the scorer. After the unfortunate start for Freiburg, young national player Janina Minge deservedly equalized in the sold-out Rhein-Energie Stadium (42nd). Rebecka Blomqvist (57′), Popp (84′) and Dominique Janssen with a hand penalty (89′) scored against Freiburg’s strong goalkeeper Gabrielle Lambert in the second half.
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“Of course we’re incredibly disappointed. We had the chance to win our first title. We didn’t succeed, but we just have to enjoy it here, the great atmosphere,” said Minge from Freiburg: “We’ll do that don’t forget soon.”
The fourth Wolfsburg goal was preceded by the first VAR appearance in a women’s cup final. After a tip from the video assistant and looking at the video images, main referee Fabienne Michel decided on handball and penalty kicks.
Pyrotechnics at the women’s DFB Cup
The previous record attendance of 26,282 fans at the 2010 premiere in Cologne between FCR Duisburg and USC Jena was increased significantly. Unusual for a women’s game that the stadium announcer had to warn the loud Freiburg fans not to burn any pyrotechnics before kick-off. “Fantastic! We’re all happy, we’re all enjoying it, it’s a great atmosphere. The Freiburg block in particular is really alarming,” said national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg at half-time in the Sky interview and praised the Freiburg women: “In the beginning they were very nervous, now they’re in the game. Now it’s open.”
In the end, Wolfsburg trumped 1. FFC Frankfurt, who had won the cup nine times. It was Popp’s twelfth victory in the DFB Cup, having already triumphed twice with Duisburg. The captain of the German national team missed the 2-0 after 15 minutes when her shot went just wide of the post. Otherwise, the 32-year-old had to take a lot against not squeamish opponents.
SC Freiburg runs behind a lot
Even without the injured DFB players Lena Lattwein and Marina Hegering and with goal scorer Ewa Pajor initially only on the bench, VfL initially dominated the encounter. The SC players, who only lost 1-0 to Wolfsburg in the 2019 final, were chasing a lot from the start. Coach Theresa Merk’s team had to give up more and more scoring chances to their experienced opponents, but came back shortly before the break: first national goalkeeper Merle Frohms saved against Lisa Karl, then Minge headed in to equalize.
Freiburg went into the second half with a lot of self-confidence, but showed themselves to be unsorted when they conceded the next goal against a VfL that was only partially convincing, but who shifted up a gear in the final phase.
