What happens if Arminia Bielefeld win the DFB-Pokal? | OneFootball

Arminia Bielefeld are through to the DFB-Pokal final for the first time in their history after a sensational 2-1 win over holders Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday night.

It's only the fourth time in the competition's history that a third-division team has made it to the final. Hertha BSC's second team, Energie Cottbus and Union Berlin all reached the final while playing in the 3. Liga, but none of them lifted the trophy.

But what would happen if Arminia Bielefeld made history by winning the DFB-Pokal final?

From a financial perspective, Arminia Bielefeld have earned around €7.5 million just by reaching the semi-finals, according to Kicker.

If they win the final, they will earn an additional €4.32 million, while a defeat would result in a fee of €2.88 million. Add to that 45 percent of ticket revenue from the semi-final and final, and you have a potential total of over €12 million on the table, the report claims.

From a sporting point of view, a victory in the final would secure Bielefeld a place in the league phase of next season's Europa League.

Should that happen, the Bundesliga could end up with just six European places instead of seven in the worst-case scenario from a German perspective.

The top four teams would play in the Champions League, the fifth-placed team would join Arminia Bielefeld in the Europa League and the sixth-placed team would qualify for the UEFA Conference League.

A small glimmer of hope for the Bundesliga is to earn another place in the Champions League through the UEFA country coefficient. However, Germany are currently only fourth in this ranking and only have a theoretical chance of making it into the top two places that would result in another European spot, as there are only three German European quarter-finalists left (Bayern and Dortmund in the Champions League, Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League).

Another way for Germany to get an extra European spot would be if Borussia Dortmund finished outside the top four and won the Champions League, or if Eintracht Frankfurt finished outside the top six and won the Europa League.

If Arminia Bielefeld were to lose the final to a team that had already qualified for Europe in another way, the European spot wouldn't go to the 3. Liga outfit, but to the best-placed team in the Bundesliga that hadn't already qualified for Europe.

Die Arminen will face the winner of Wednesday's semi-final between RB Leipzig and VfB Stuttgart.