Curious move: Bremen amateur club plays DFB Cup in the Weserstadion!

Curious move: Bremen amateur club plays DFB Cup in the Weserstadion!

The DFB Cup is just around the corner and the anticipation in the north is palpable. But not every amateur club can look forward to a home game. SV Hemelingen, a Bremen league team, has to play its first cup game against VfL Wolfsburg next Saturday in Bremen's Weserstadion, as the originally planned stadium in Verden surprisingly does not meet the requirements. The reason? The playing field there is four meters too short, which makes it simply impossible to use, reports t-online.de.

The short-term decision to host the game in the Weserstadion is a surprise for the club, especially since the stadium was previously used for a promotion game to the Regionalliga Nord. These unexpected hurdles are not isolated cases when it comes to the participation of amateur clubs in the DFB Cup. In fact, seven out of 18 amateur clubs are having to relocate for their first games in foreign stadiums, according to the report Deutschlandfunk. The reasons for this are primarily the DFB's increasing demands on referee booths, security concepts and TV broadcasting.

Support from the competition

However, there is a positive turnaround for SV Hemelingen: VfL Wolfsburg has signaled that it will forego part of the ticket revenue in order to provide the amateur club with financial support. This type of support is not uncommon in the football community and shows solidarity between clubs.

The regulations for the DFB Cup are complex. A total of 64 teams are taking part, including the teams from the Bundesliga, 2nd Bundesliga and the Association Cup winners of the 21 state associations, explains Das DFB. This makes it all the more important for the participants, who often rely on volunteers, to meet the necessary requirements. Atlas Delmenhorst, a Lower Saxony top league team, has also decided to play its game against Borussia Mönchengladbach in Oldenburg. The team could theoretically play in their own stadium, but decided against it in order to minimize the effort for the volunteers.

The challenges of amateur clubs

The changes in the regulations are not without consequences: more and more amateur clubs are losing the original charm of their home game and moving to larger stadiums in order to meet the DFB's requirements. Although these new regulations can expand financial flexibility - as the signing bonus of 100,000 euros shows - the atmosphere of the local sports field is often lost. Sami Tuncel from Hemelingen would therefore like to see simpler solutions for the amateur clubs, which continue to play an important role in football and are home to many passionate fans.

The opening games in the DFB Cup are not only a moment of joy for the participating clubs, but also an exciting challenge that shows the dynamics of German football. We can only hope that the amateur clubs receive the necessary support to be able to compete on this big stage.