Berlin stadium to be confirmed as “Germany’s Wembley”

Berlin’s Olympic Stadium is on Wednesday expected to be confirmed as the venue for the German Cup finals until 2015 as the German Football Federation (DFB) look to use it as “Germany’s Wembley”.

The stadium, built for the 1936 Olympic Games, has hosted German Cup finals since 1985 and was used to hold the 2006 World Cup final with the DFB set to extend the contract to use it for their show-case final until 2015.

Bayern Munich face holders Werder Bremen in the 2010 German Cup final on May 15.

“Due to its huge significance, the German Cup final has for many years been one of Berlin’s sporting highlights,” the president of the Berlin Football Association (BFV) Bernd Schultz told SID, an AFP subsidiary.

“And like the FA Cup at London’s Wembley Stadium, it is hard to imagine it taking place anywhere other than the capital.”

Having been built during the Nazi era, the stadium has a capacity of 74,500 and hosted the 2009 World Athletics Championships which saw Jamaica’s Usain Bolt break both the 100m and 200m world records.