You'll never walk alone

The World Cup in the USA, Mexico and Canada was the biggest tournament of all time. 48 teams, 104 matches, five and a half weeks of football fever across the North American continent. The FIEGE Soccer Cup, which took place in Bensheim in Hesse on 26th September, took one day only to surpass this record. More than 2,500 colleagues from eight nations had gathered, taking advantage of the most perfect weather conditions for football, to crown the winners from the 200 games held during the twentieth edition of what is most likely the most prestigious football tournament of the year. 

Felix Fiege, who has been running our fifth-generation family business jointly with his cousin, Jens Fiege, thanked the organisational team during the festive opening in the early morning hours: “Year-on-year, we are speechless in light of your commitment to this event that we witness, which you show in addition to your actual workload. Our Soccer Cup is a unique event which could never take place without the many diligent helpers working in the background. We look forward to a fantastic tournament and to spending the day with you all!”

In recent years, there has been an unwritten rule at the Soccer Cup that there is no way round the Kickers Biblis if you want to win the title. In 2025, the all-star ensemble had secured the winning title of the men’s tournament for the third time in a row, making it the first three-peat in the history of the FIEGE Soccer Cup. This year, therefore, the focus for this accomplished team was above all on having fun – and after a solid preliminary round, the team had to admit defeat to Mszczonów from Poland in the round of 32 already, losing with a score of 4:1. This win then spurred the Polish team on to the point that they marched straight through to the finals, where they lost 2:3 against FIEGE Czech Republic in a gripping battle. 

As for the women’s competition which was represented exclusively by international teams after last year’s winners, the Sky Blues, stayed away, our colleagues from Ameryka (Poland) asserted their position, having lost the year before in the final match of the competition only. And even in this final, for which team Shakalaka from Italy also qualified, neither team gave anything away. The outstanding performance by the 16 referees contributed crucially to things being always competitive yet fair both on the pitch and throughout the day. In the end, our colleagues from Poland were lucky and secured the title with a score of 2:1 – and with that the right to host the 2027 Soccer Cup. So next year’s motto is: Serdecznie witamy w Polsce!

And even beyond the pitch, the football celebrations delivered everything the players and the fans – some of whom had travelled over 1,000 kilometres to be here – could ask for: the atmosphere was amazing, as was the culinary offer. Jens Fiege said: “We want to thank each and every one of you for having gone out of your way to be here. If you wanted to describe and experience the very special team spirit at our family business, our Soccer Cup is pretty much the most impressive example of all. Naturally, we want to express a big thank you to the city of Bensheim and FSG Bensheim-West who made it possible to stage the Soccer Cup here!” 

After presenting the awards, where the top three men’s and women’s teams as well as the most creative fan scene from the Czech Republic, who particularly stood out with their impressive and boisterous performance, showed off their well-deserved trophies amidst a round of rapturous applause, things moved to the festive tent for the closing party. Once again, one thing was clear to see: the FIEGE Soccer Cup is about more than just football. It stands for community, team spirit, shared values and an intercultural togetherness. That’s a definite, every year. Like the German cult coach Hans Meyer said back in the days: “Football is the beautiful routine of always being the same.”