Bayer Uerdingen’s ‘miracle of Berlin’ bewildered Bayern Munich before slow fade to obscurity

How the modest club from Krefeld rocked the holders to win the 1985 DFB-Pokal final – only for their fortunes to fade when funding ran dry

When Matthias Herget, flanked by Horst Feilzer and Norbert Brinkmann, lifted der Pott on a sun-dappled evening at Berlin’s Olympic stadium four decades ago, a unique moment passed in the stolid world of German football. A cup shock, the kind of wonderful giant-killing that is fairly routine in the English game but barely translates elsewhere.

Looking back now, it remains a seismic inverting of the natural order in a nation more used to an honour roll dominated by a handful of major clubs. Bayer 05 Uerdingen had just beaten the holders Bayern Munich 2-1 to win the 1985 German Cup final. As Goethe wrote: “Nothing is worth more than this day.”