In just five weeks, the community of Windeck on the southern border of North-Rhine Westphalia will revel in the biggest festival of the year. Some 20,000 inhabitants live in 70 or districts and villages, one of them named Dattenfeld, whose local club TSV Germania Windeck take on Bayern in the DFB Cup first round on 16 August at the RheinEnergie Stadium in Cologne.
The fifth-tier side, who narrowly missed out on promotion to the fourth-division Regionalliga last term, have qualified for the first round proper of the DFB Cup via their regional cup competition for the second year in a row. Last summer, Germania played Schalke and lost 4-0. The luck of the draw has paired them with Bayern this term. fcbayern.de called club chairman Heinz Georg Willmeroth to ask about the state of preparations, what Bayern’s visit means to the club, and the magic of the cup.
Interview: Heinz Georg Willmeroth
fcbayern.de: Only five weeks until you play Bayern. Has cup fever set in?
Willmeroth: Of course. We’ve already sold more tickets than we did in total for last year’s Schalke tie. We’ve beaten the 16,000 from last year, and the best seats are sold out. We have twice as many requests for media accreditation. Unbelievable, and five weeks still to go!
What size of crowd are you expecting?
I’d be happy with 25,000. The demand is huge, because it’s Bayern, who have more members than any other club and are the most successful. I’m surprised how many Bayern fans we have here. Many folk are saying how difficult it normally is to lay hands on a ticket for Bayern matches, home and away. The Bundesliga clubs can be delighted they have Bayern, because at least one home game sells out. Bayern always play to full houses.
So you must have a lot of work to do.
It’s no problem, I enjoy it. It's the only thing I’m working on at present. Fortunately, I took early retirement, so I’m available to do it.
How far are you with preparations for the game?
I attended a DFB workshop about this last year, and I was shocked at how much you have to do, just to lay on the TV coverage for one thing. So switching to the RheinEnergie Stadium couldn’t be better, the infrastructure’s all there already. We played Schalke there last season, so it was easy to arrange this time. Nice to see you again, they said.
FC Köln is the nearest big club to Windeck, so wouldn’t you rather play them?
I’d have been happy to, but I wouldn’t have preferred it. I’ve been a Köln fan since I was a kid, but Bayern are the best of the lot. I was blown away by the draw. Thousands of clubs want to play Bayern.
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