The story of Saarbrucken- 3rd division team

Saarbrucken are a team from an otherwise forgotten region of Germany, Saarland. Saarbrucken were founded in 1903 and celebrated their 120th anniversary. Saarbrucken would go on to play in the first ever Bundesliga season in 1963, despite being the most controversial pick, but would finish bottom. Since then, Saarbrucken have gone between the second and fifth divisions of Germany and now find themselves in the 3.Liga( 3rd tier of German Football ) They play in the Ludwigsparkstadion.

Some of the teams proudest achievements are:

Coming runners-up in the German Football Championship in 1943 and 1952.

Reaching the DFB Pokal semi-finals on 5 occasions.

Winning the Verbandspokal 10 times( winning this allows regional teams to qualify to the DFB Pokal )

The Saarland Cup in 2002

The Bundesliga 2 southern group in 1991/92

What makes this achievement even crazier is that they have done this before in 2019/20 season where they reached the semi-finals of the DFB Pokal. It all started with a 3-2 win over Jahn Regensburg in Bavaria. They would then go on to stun F.C Koln with a 90th minute winner from their right-back and midfielder Tobias Janicke. Next up was Karlsruhe SC who they beat on penalties 7-6 to win the game. In the semi finals, they would face Fortuna Dusseldorf who won after the keeper saved FOUR spot kicks to send them to the semi-finals( something that a fourth-division side has never done before ). Unfortunately however, it all came crashing down as Saarbrucken lost 3-0 to Bayer Leverkusen who then would lose in the final to Bayern Munich. Still, it was a huge upset for a small club in a basically unknown region of Germany for many.

They would go and beat Karlsruhe SC in the first round 2-1. In the next round, they caused a massive upset against arguably the biggest team in Germany, Bayern Munich with Marcel Gaus converting a low cross to win 2-1 to shell-shock Bayern Munich. However, they would beat another Bundesliga team in Eintracht Frankfurt after 2 goals in the second half. However, their cup run didn't end there as another Bundesliga side would soon succumb a defeat to Saarbrucken. The 3.Liga outfits would beat them 2-1 with a last minute winner from Kai Brunker. Unfortunately, Kaiserslautern was one too far as they would lose 2-0 to a former German Giant in the 2. Bundesliga. Kaiserslautern will now face Leverkusen in the final and should they win, they will be in the Europa League next season and in the Super Cup final against most likely, Bayer Leverkusen or Bayern Munich.

It's really surprising to see a 3rd-4th tier side go this far but it is most likely under two factors:

No pressure

With no pressure to deliver, Saarbrucken can go out and give it their all which could be a significant advantage against bigger teams like Bayern Munich and Borussia Monchengladbach. They aren't favourites but the Saarland Side can give it everything against bigegr teams who are very complacent and will treat them like an underdog team which allows Saarbrucken to counter-attack and stun teams.

Home advantage

As they are a lower-seeded team they are always given a home tie which allows for a sell-out of their passionate and loud fans which gives them a lot of support for the players and they are granted this as they have a lower seed against teams like Karlsruhe, Bayern Munich, Borussia Monchengladbach and Eintracht Frankfurt but they have a rivalry so lots of away fans of Kaiserslautern will also tune in.