Starting December 2, 2025, the hunt for tickets to the DFB Cup final continues – in the Round of 16, there will be, among others, BVB against Bayer Leverkusen and HSV against Holstein Kiel. The DFB Cup final on May 23, 2026 remains the dream destination of the 16 clubs still in the competition. Meanwhile, a debate is swirling around the final venue, Berlin’s Olympic Stadium.
This is reported by SPORT BILD (issue 46 / 2025). The rental agreement between the German Football Association (DFB) and Berlin for the “German Wembley,” selected as the final venue since 1985 until at least the year 2030, has a flaw.
DFB Cup Final in Berlin until 2030: What speaks against it?
In Berlin, there is a lack of access routes around the Olympic Stadium!
As the 2025 DFB Cup final with VfB Stuttgart against Arminia Bielefeld (4:2) showed, only two main entrances, East and South, form a bottleneck in which spectator congestion could, in the worst case, trigger mass panic.
Background: At the final in May 2025, large groups of Arminia Bielefeld supporters were backed up 90 minutes before the expandable security checks at the South Gate (Gegengerade). This caused tension.
Praiseworthy was the calm demeanor of the Bielefeld fans, who prevented an escalation.
With 24,000 spectators per finalist receiving DFB Cup final tickets, 67 percent enter through the East Gate (Hertha fan curve) and only 33 percent through the South Gate into the Olympic Stadium.
“For the future,” as respected colleague Berries Boßmann wrote in SPORT BILD, “the DFB demands solutions from the Berlin Senate to ensure more safety and a smooth process, especially in the event that the final is classified as a high-risk match due to the participants.”
This is theoretically still conceivable – BVB against Bochum or 1. FC Magdeburg against Hertha BSC would be such scenarios.
It doesn’t have to and won’t come to that.
As SPORT BILD reported, the Berlin Senate is entering contract negotiations for the renewal of the DFB Cup final rights until 2030 with the plan to enlarge the South Gate.
Through the access area in front of it, spectators flowing into the stadium are expected to reach both gates in a 50:50 ratio.
Our editor experienced this situation in 2019 before the final FC Bayern Munich against RB Leipzig (3:0) in Berlin; it is truly challenging and must be improved.
This view is expected to remain until 2030: A look inside Berlin’s Olympic Stadium before the 2023 final with RB Leipzig and Eintracht Frankfurt. Photo: Imago Images
What exactly will change at the Olympic Stadium Berlin?
The South Gate will be expanded by 30 turnstiles, and the PO South parking lot must make way for this. Due to the fact that the stadium, inaugurated in 1936 for the Olympic Summer Games, is a listed building, further structural changes are not or hardly possible.
Whether this expansion will already be completed in time for the final on May 23, 2026 remains the big question.
Der Autor: Carsten Germann berichtet seit 2002 aus erster Hand über den englischen Fußball, u. a. für DIE WELT, BILD am SONNTAG und seit April 2021 auch als leitender Redakteur beim Portal Fussballdaten.de. Zudem gab er mit den Büchern Football’s home (2007) und Absolute Dynamite! (2010) zwei Sammelbände mit seinen Fußball-Reiseerlebnissen aus Großbritannien heraus. Für DIE FUSSBALLREISE schreibt er regelmäßig über den Insel-Kick.