On paper, a league separates them this season. That will change after the summer break when Viktoria Berlin, who have just been relegated from the third division, will start again in the Regionalliga Nordost. In this class, VGS Altglienicke took fourth place this season, so the difference in theory is not that big, so that an exciting duel can be expected in the final of the Berlin Cup. Kick-off is on Saturday at 12:15 p.m. in the Mommsen Stadium.
“They’re still third division level, I think, even though they’ve been relegated,” says Karsten Heine, Altglienicke’s head coach, about the opponent and sees the duel with Farat Toku’s team as an “exciting task”.
This year it will be the first time that all 21 regional associations of the German Football Association (DFB) will hold their cup finals on one day, on the so-called final day of the amateurs. This should be a day of celebration for German football, where spectators will finally be allowed again this year.
The seventh edition of the final day will be accompanied by a seven-hour live conference on ARD, before the highlight in the evening will be the DFB Cup final between RB Leipzig and SC Freiburg in the Olympic Stadium.
While the anticipation is great at Altglienicke, it should still be a bit clouded at Viktoria. Toku had to do a lot of development work last week after relegation to the regional league was finally sealed last Saturday after only one year in the third division. He then gave his players two days off to recover a little, both mentally and physically.
Now you might think that just seven days after being relegated the motivation for a cup game is a bit dampened, but given that the winner will be able to play in the DFB-Pokal next season, Viktoria’s ambition should also be aroused.
In addition, they still have a score to settle with Altglienicke, because it is the new edition of the final of the Berlin State Cup in 2020, in which the Volkssportler won the title with a whopping 6-0 win against Viktoria, who was also playing in the regional league at the time could secure.
Heine, who was also VSG coach two years ago, doesn’t want to know anything about that anymore and sees the opponent slightly at an advantage: “Viktoria has individual quality, in a cup final I would still see the chances at 50:50. But we do know that when Viktoria puts her horsepower on the road, it will be very difficult for us. We have to be there when they falter.”
While the cup win for Altglienicke would be the “icing on the cake” of a good season according to Heine, Viktoria Berlin could at least end the difficult season with a positive result. So both teams will start the game from a completely different starting position, but in terms of performance they will meet on an equal footing.
