VfB Stuttgart target cup glory against Bayern Munich after sealing UEFA Champions League berth
The VfB Stuttgart squad were all smiles in Frankfurt on Saturday, as their hard-fought 2-2 draw, allied to results elsewhere, ensured they will play UEFA Champions League football again next season. Can the DFB Cup holders take the momentum into next week's final with Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich?
A top-four finish was the Swabians' main objective for the 2025/26 campaign, and Sebastian Hoeneß, who has now steered his charges into the Champions League in two out of the past three seasons (with a memorable DFB Cup triumph sandwiched in between), is delighted to have hit his target.
"We’ve achieved our big goal and qualified for the Champions League," the 44-year-old told the club's website. "That’s something special. I’d like to congratulate the team and the whole club: we’ve had a very consistent Bundesliga campaign. With the close battle for the Champions League places, the pressure was really on in the run-un. I take my hat off to the lads for how they stood up to it."
The players were in agreement with their coach with regard to the scope of the accomplishment, with Deniz Undav, who finished second behind Harry Kane in the Bundesliga scoring charts on 19 goals, calling it "fantastic" and "phenomenal", and Bosnian striker Ermedin Demirović describing it as "unbelievable" and "fully deserved".
Although VfB let a 2-0 lead slip against Eintracht Frankfurt, Chema's early header and Nikolas Nartey's cool finish had already laid the early foundations, and that, coupled with Bayer Levekusen's draw with Hamburg and Hoffenheim's heavy defeat in Mönchengladbach, secured fourth place in the Bundesliga table, much to the delight of the 6,000-strong travelling contingent.
The season is not quite over for VfB, however. On 23 May, they take on Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich in Berlin in an eagerly anticipated DFB Cup final. If the holders were to emerge victorious, it would be the first time that a team has successfully defended the cup since Bayern achieved the difficult feat in 2005 and 2006.
Both clubs go into the showpiece encounter on the back of impressive league accomplishments. However, after wrapping as successful Bundesliga title defence by beating Stuttgart on 19 April, the Bavarians have drawn at home to relegated Heidenheim and suffered a Champions League semi-final exit. VfB, meanwhile, can potentially use their morale-boosting finish to the league campaign as a springboard going into the final.
"We’re heading to the final in Berlin with a Champions League spot in the bag – that’s an excellent starting point for putting in a top performance," said Undav bullishly.
The two clubs have locked horns in the cup final twice before, with Bayern coming out on top on both occasions, 5-2 in 1986 and 3-2 in 2013. In this season's Bundesliga, the record champions prevailed 5-0 in Stuttgart and 4-2 in Munich. The stats would suggest, therefore, that Bayern are big favourites on Saturday.
However, Atakan Karazor and Co. have shown a determined, never-say-die streak this term that has seen them dig deep several times to pull off results against the odds, such as their last-gasp draw with 10 men against Hoffenheim on Matchday 32, and their dramatic extra-time victory over Freiburg in the cup semi-finals. Even in the aforementioned away loss to Bayern on Matchday 30, they refused to let their heads go down and battled admirably to the final whistle.
For VfB board member for sport Fabian Wohlgemuth, there's nothing to stop the five-time cup winners going one better in the German capital this coming weekend.
"This will be a really special occasion and one that we’re really looking forward to. I am absolutely convinced that the team will be fired up for this final. We’ll use this week to train and prepare well," he explained.
"On paper, it’s pretty clear who the favourites will be, but for a cup final, it comes down to a few details on the day and if we rise to the occasion and give it everything we’ve got, I believe that we can all pull together once again and achieve something truly exceptional."
