Never before have this many supporters attended a women's football club match in Germany. A record-breaking 57,000 fans watched visitors Bremen beat Hamburg to seal a ticket to the women's German Cup final.

"These are the games that make you start playing football as a child," said Bremen captain Lina Hausicke. "I don’t know how many years' worth of emotions I’ve felt today."

The match rose to the occasion in the second half. Despite having Saskia Matheis sent off, Bremen managed to snatch an opener, as Sophie Weidauer pounced on a mistake by the home side’s goalkeeper. But the underdogs rewarded their home crowd with drama, with Sarah Stöckmann grabbing a late equalizer to send the game into extra time. However, last-gasp goals from Weidauer and Verena Wieder sealed a 3-1 victory for the visitors.

Even though Hamburg missed out on the final, their captain Sarah Stöckmann will remember this match fondly.

"It fills me with pride that we were the first in Germany to play in front of a crowd of this size. It won’t be the last time, and it was amazing what we were able to experience here today. It was a football festival for Germany."

The match at Hamburg’s Volksparkstadion was already guaranteed to draw a bigger crowd than Bremen's final against Bayern, which will be held at a smaller stadium in Cologne. That was the venue of the previous record crowd, set during the 2023 cup final with 44,808 in attendance.

Hamburg's women's team usually plays its home matches at a........

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