On a sun-dappled evening at Berlin's Olympic Stadium four decades ago, a unique moment passed in German football.
Bayer 05 Uerdingen had just beaten holders Bayern Munich 2-1 to win the 1985 German Cup final.
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It was a seismic inverting of the natural order in a nation more used to an honour roll dominated by a handful of major clubs.
As Goethe wrote: "Nothing is worth more than this day."
The Giant-Killing
By 1985 Bayern Munich had won the German Cup seven times and the European Cup three times. They were among the continent's football powerhouses.
Uerdingen, the club of Krefeld, a modest city of around 300,000 on the north Rhine, had won little of note.
But with backing from chemicals giant Bayer AG, they were prospering.
Under head coach Kalli Feldkamp and chairman Arno Eschler, Uerdingen were unheralded underdogs. They had only been promoted to the Bundesliga a couple of years earlier.
Bayern took an early lead in the eighth minute through Dieter Hoeness. But Uerdingen equalised a minute later through Horst Feilzer.
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The winner came in the second half.
Wolfgang Schäfer scored the decisive goal in the 66th minute, and Uerdingen held on for a historic victory.
Aftermath and Decline
There was delirium among fans. A parade along the Ku'damm and celebrations at the Hotel Intercontinental raged late into the night.
Uerdingen reached the European Cup-Winners' Cup semi-final in 1986. Their quarter-final against Dynamo Dresden became known as the "Miracle of the Grotenburg" after an improbable comeback.
They finished third in the Bundesliga the season after their cup win. But when Bayer AG withdrew financial support in 1995, the club's fortunes declined.
Renamed KFC Uerdingen, they tumbled down the German leagues and now play in the fifth-tier Oberliga. Insolvency proceedings were lifted at the end of April 2025.
"There's a lot of bad blood in the past, and yet we've still managed to attract more than 60 sponsors," said chairman Norbert Philipp.
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"The club's appeal is so strong that there are still people who support it."
