The traditional East Westphalian club Arminia Bielefeld has had catastrophic times. Within three years he finished 17th in the Bundesliga, 16th in the second division and 14th in the third division. In the spring they were lucky not to have been relegated a third time in a row and were now in the fourth division.
This season Arminia is emerging from obscurity – that’s what you’re used to at this club. As currently third in the third division, they defeated SC Freiburg, sixth in the Bundesliga, 3-1 in the DFB Cup round of 16 on Tuesday evening. Bielefeld was already the only third division team to reach the round of 16 and accordingly now also in the quarter-finals, which will be drawn on the Sunday after next and played at the beginning of February. Arminia has already brought in more than three million euros in cup prizes. She would like to return to the second division next year.
If Bielefeld continues to play as well as they did in the cup, then that could be a success. In the first round they defeated the second division team Hannover 96 2-0 and in the second round they defeated the Bundesliga club Union Berlin with the same result. “Arminia – when you win, it’s so wonderful,” the fans rhymed on a meter-long banner. What sounds like an old club hit is not available on any recording medium. However, you can see from the saying: Even after depressing years and even in the lowlands, you can always find new joy in football.
Christopher Lannert (28th), Julian Kaina with a hand penalty (36th) and Louis Oppie (81st) when Michael Gregoritsch conceded a goal (63rd) scored the goals for the Bielefeld team, whose squad was put together by sports director Michael Mutzel and this time also by Coach Michél “Mitch” Kniat had been well prepared.
The love for Arminia in Bielefeld has always been independent of the league
“What makes me most proud is that we didn’t fake our way to this victory with scary football, but rather showed a really good performance,” said Kniat. In fact, Bielefeld played on equal terms against Freiburg and deserved the success – although they also benefited from the fact that Florent Muslija missed a penalty for the guests in the 18th minute.
The Breisgauers have had their problems with penalties for nine months, as Muslija’s miss was the sixth penalty that Freiburg have awarded since April: five in the Bundesliga and one in the cup, two each from Lucas Höler and Vincenzo Grifo and one each from Roland Sallai and now Muslija. The Breisgauers are in danger of developing an East Westphalia trauma, as last season they were eliminated in the second round of the cup at home against the second division team SC Paderborn.
26,000 spectators at the sold-out Alm saw the cup sensation, but on average a good 20,000 also come to the third division home games. The love for Arminia in Bielefeld has always been independent of the league. Next Sunday the Arminen will play the top game against the second Dynamo Dresden, who are tied on points. There they would like to use their acute euphoria profitably.
