Bayer 04 have capped off the first German championship without defeat by winning the DFB Pokal! One week after being presented with the Meisterschale at the BayArena, the Werkself also lifted the cup at Berlin’s Olympiastadion.

Over 27,000 Bayer 04 fans celebrated the 1-0 win over 1. FC Kaiserslautern in the stadium, while many thousands of supporters cheered along at the public viewing in Leverkusen or on TV screens. It’s the first double in the club’s history!

In front of 74,322 fans at a sold-out and rocking Olympiastadion, Granit Xhaka sent the Bayer 04 contingent wild just after the quarter-hour mark with a stunning long-range strike to make it 1-0. The Werkself largely dominated proceedings after that but were unable to extend their lead.

The first half ended with Odilon Kossounou being shown a second yellow card. After the restart, the German champions saw out the game with control and experience, and there was no taking the DFB Pokal title from them.

The Werkself’s journey to the DFB Pokal crown began in mid-August of last year, with the first round and the first competitive match of the season against Regionalliga outfit FC Teutonia 05 Ottensen.

An 8-0 drubbing in Hamburg was followed by a 5-2 win at third-tier side SV Sandhausen in early November and then a 3-1 victory at home to Bundesliga 2 side SC Paderborn in early December.

In February of this year, the Werkself came out on top in a pulsating clash against VfB Stuttgart thanks to a late strike, setting up a semi-final against second-division Fortuna Dusseldorf, which Bayer 04 won 4-0 in April to reach the club’s fifth cup final. And the story that our double winners wrote at the Berlin Olympiastadion on 25 May 2024 will of course remain in the minds of all of you forever.