It is 52 centimetres tall, it weighs 5.7 kg’s, and it is decorated with twelve tourmalines, twelve rock crystals and 18 nephrites. It is made of fire gilt sterling silver. And it was Alfred “Aki” Schmidt who was the first player to hold it in his hands. Exactly 50 years ago today, on the 22nd of May 1965, when the new DFB Cup was handed over for the first time.

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And it was handed over to the captain of Borussia Dortmund after a 2-0 victory over Alemannia Aachen. The former Borussia player said: “I still admire the president of our country Heinrich Lübke, who managed to hold such a nice speech after this great sizzling Cup match.”

Is there any irony in these words? We did not ask. The fact was that back then it was baking hot in the Niedersachsen Stadium, which meant it was very difficult for the 22 players to play properly. In addition, BVB as the Bundesliga club had already all but made sure of victory through goals by Schmidt (11th minute) and Emmerich (18th minute) and that is also how the score remained. Alemannia, who were in the Regionalliga West back then as a second division team, did not have a chance against Borussia, who played a very clever game. Sepp Herberger, the national Head Coach in those days, characterised the 90 minutes as follows: “the best thing about the game was the performance of the German military band!”

Aki Schmidt, who as the captain was the first player allowed to hold the new DFB Cup in his hands, reminisces: “we travelled there by train and we celebrated after the game in the hotel in Hanover, before we had to return home the next day.” And the playmaker of the team back then also spoke of another unexpected occurrence: “it was the last game for Head Coach Hermann Eppenhoff. Our new Head Coach Fischken Multhaup was also in the stadium and then later on joined in the celebrations. That was a very nice transition.”

Aki Schmidt remembered: “the most important thing about this title was that we qualified for Europe. And the season that followed was to be the most successful season in our club’s history with new signings Held and Libuda.” That season ended with the triumph against FC Liverpool at Hamden Park in Glasgow. By winning the Cup in 1965, Bosussia laid the foundation for a German team to win a European Cup for the first time in the following year. (flü/br)