The cup is back in Berlin, and on 13 May, Borussia Dortmund will hope to take it from the capital and bring it home to Germany's footballing capital. Eight days prior to the DFB Cup final, title holders FC Bayern Munich handed the trophy back to the DFB.

Representatives of the two finalists - Hans-Joachim Watzke and Karl-Heinz Riedle for Borussia Dortmund, Oliver Mintzlaff and Perry Bräutigam for Rasenballsport Leipzig - were joined by Heike Ullrich, deputy general secretary of the DFB, Michael Müller, the current mayor of Berlin, and Andreas Geisel, senator for the interior & sport, at Berlin City Hall for the "Cup Handover" prior to the 78th DFB Cup final.

Karl-Heinz Riedle expects ''an evenly-matched game. I think it will be a close scoreline.'' As was the case last season, this year's final will take place in front of empty stands due to the ongoing Coronavirus situation. "In 2017, there were almost 100,000 BVB fans in this great city. It was a real goosebumps atmosphere. It is very hard to experience a final like this without the fans," said Riedle. "But we are all called upon to accept the Coronavirus prevention measures in order to come out of this crisis together.''

This is the tenth time in history that BVB have reached the DFB Cup final. The club have lifted the trophy on four previous occasions. (cr)