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defendo Cup: Emotional hours in Lichterfelde

Parallel to the Nike Youth Cup for B-juniors, the Lichterfelde stadium once again became a stage for senior soccer in Berlin on Ascension Day: the best senior and older league teams competed for the coveted trophies in front of 2,200 spectators at the defendo Cup 2026. Six finals, two pitches and a long day of soccer provided great entertainment and many emotional moments despite the changeable weather.

Early start with a surprise

The match was kicked off by the Ü40 7s teams of BFC Meteor 06 II and Eintracht Mahlsdorf. In an evenly-matched game full of chances, both keepers initially shone with strong saves before Fatih Vural put Meteor ahead shortly before the break. After the break, Mahlsdorf equalized through Resad Demann (45'), but Vural again made it 2:1 in the 56th minute. Despite an intense final phase, Mahlsdorf were unable to score again.

SV Empor Berlin got off to a dream start in the subsequent Ü32 7s final, taking the lead after just two minutes. Shortly before the break, Niels Degenkolbe equalized for Concordia Wittenau. Immediately after the restart, again it only took two minutes, Empor took the lead again with a goal from Jan Dietrich. Fabian Zottmann made it 2:2 a little later, before Philipp Engel finally turned the game around five minutes before the end. With the 3-2 win, Wittenauer SC Concordia once again secured the cup title.

Close call on the large pitch

In the first duel on the large grass pitch, two offensively strong teams, Hertha BSC and BFC Meteor, met in the Ü40 11s final. After a goalless first half, the second half was a hotly contested affair. Meteor's captain was shown the red card after a foul (57'). Despite Hertha having more chances, Meteor surprisingly took the lead when Özkan Inanc took advantage of a resting ball right on the edge of the penalty area to make it 1:0 (69'). Halil Savran equalized a short time later with a deflection (73'), before Hertha finally scored the lucky punch in the last minute: Captain Ümit Ergirdi converted a high cross in stoppage time for a celebrated 2:1 victory (90'+4).

At the same time, the Ü60 final between SSV Köpenick-Oberspree and Viktoria Berlin developed into the usual intense duel. Köpenick initially missed a penalty, but remained in control of the game and deservedly took the lead. The favorites remained in control and increased their lead to 2:0. Viktoria put up a fight, but were unable to find a solution to their sturdy defense, meaning that the David versus Goliath moment failed to materialize.

Exciting final spurt

In the Ü50 final, Viktoria Berlin and Hertha BSC, two teams with strong offensive capabilities, faced off in an intense duel from the outset. Tino Kerber put Viktoria in front early on with a brace (15', 16'). Bekir Bagci even increased the lead to 3:0 before half-time (39'). They went one better after the break and extended their lead through Johann Rimon von Lipinski (51') from the penalty spot and Ali Ekber Kurmut (52'). Hertha came back into the game, but Viktoria did not allow the cup victory to be taken away from them and confidently saw out the 5:0 win.

Last trophy to be awarded

The final of the final day was the Over 32 11s final between SC Charlottenburg and SC Staaken. In an evenly-matched game with a slight advantage for SCC, the game went into half-time goalless. It was only in the closing stages that Sebastian Seidel broke the spell and scored in the 82nd minute to make it 1-0. Staaken threw everything forward once more in stoppage time, but were unlucky and SCC lifted the final trophy of the day.

Soccer festival in Lichterfelde

Once again this year, the defendo Cup showed what Berlin senior soccer is all about: sporting quality, great passion and intergenerational soccer culture. From the first game in the morning to the final whistle in the afternoon, the final day was the best advertisement for amateur soccer in the capital.

The Berlin Football Association would like to thank all the teams, referees, helpers and spectators for a successful cup day. The presentation of the final matches can still be viewed on the subpage of our homepage: Our finals- defendo cup 2026.

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