By Opta Analyst | Created at 2025-04-02 11:55:15 | Updated at 2025-04-04 06:04:16
1 day ago
On Tuesday night, in one of the greatest domestic cup shocks of all time, third-tier side Arminia Bielefeld sent Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen crashing out of the DFB-Pokal with a stunning 2-1 victory. But just how much of an upset was it?
It was a night full of scares across Europe’s cup competitions on Tuesday. Paris Saint-Germain found themselves 2-0 down to second-tier Dunkerque before rallying to win 4-2. Real Madrid played out a wild 4-4 extra-time draw against Real Sociedad to reach the Copa del Rey final with a 5-4 aggregate win, having been 10 minutes away from elimination.
But while those games were near-misses for the giants, what happened in Germany turned out to be the real horror story.
Arminia Bielefeld, currently fourth in the German third tier, stunned Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen, beating them 2-1 to send them tumbling out of the DFB-Pokal. This is the same Leverkusen, by the way, that had never lost a DFB-Pokal match under Alonso prior to this game, and went unbeaten domestically last season, winning the league and cup double.
Bielefeld did it the hard way as well, coming from behind after Jonathan Tah’s 17th-minute opener. Just three minutes after going behind, Marius Wörl rifled in a low drive to equalise. Then, on the stroke of half-time, Maximilian Großer fired in a close-range volley to complete an unforgettable turnaround.
This was no smash-and-grab victory, either. Bielefeld generated more expected goals (xG) than their illustrious opponents on the night, while Leverkusen – chasing the game for the entire second half – managed just five shots worth 0.2 xG after the break.
But despite how the game played out, make no doubt about it. This is a seismic result.
In the Bundesliga era (since 1963), Arminia Bielefeld are just the fourth third-tier side to reach the DFB-Pokal final, following Union Berlin (2001), Energie Cottbus (1997), and Hertha BSC’s reserve team (1993).
The Opta Power Rankings can help us quantify the gulf in class between these two sides. Those rankings place Bayer Leverkusen just outside the world’s top 10, sandwiched between Premier League clubs Newcastle and Chelsea.
Arminia Bielefeld, by contrast, are ranked 710th, two spots ahead of a team called Robin Hood (yes, really) who play in the second tier of Surinamese football. That means there are 699 places between the two sides in club football.
Bielefeld’s journey to the final has been remarkable. They started by knocking out second-division Hannover 96 before eliminating Bundesliga sides Union Berlin, SC Freiburg, Werder Bremen, and now Leverkusen. No third-division team has ever beaten four top-flight clubs in a row in a single DFB-Pokal campaign before.
They’ll have to knock out another one – either VfB Stuttgart or RB Leipzig – if they want to become the first third-tier side to ever win the competition.
Historically, only one ‘true’ second-division club has ever won the DFB-Pokal: Hannover 96 in 1992, when they defeated Borussia Mönchengladbach in the final. Offenbacher Kickers were also technically a second-tier team when they entered the 1969-70 competition, but by the time they won the final (played after the start of the next Bundesliga season due to the early kick-off of the 1970 World Cup), they had already been promoted.
Bielefeld clearly believe they could overcome Leverkusen – they’d even had the confidence to print t-shirts celebrating their win ahead of the game. They now have the chance to do what no third-division side has ever done before. Based on their giant-killing run so far, who would bet against them?
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