Women’s DFB Cup Final

Wolfsburg won the Women’s DFB Cup Final on Thursday with a score of 4:1. But the real star was Theresa Bitzen, the ERGO match-ball carrier. She and ERGO are linked by a special story.

In the devastating flood disaster of 2021 in Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia, more than 180 people lost their lives and hundreds more lost their homes. The hundred-year flood caused enormous damage and massive destruction to infrastructure in the areas flooded. The “ergo: wir helfen” (ergo: we help) association helped with donations, and ERGO Sales recommended support institutions.

The disaster is still in people’s minds

Among the people affected by the disaster were the B Junior girls’ team of SC13 Bad Neuenahr. Many of the children’s families suffered terrible losses. ERGO subsequently invited the girls’ team to the Women’s DFB Cup Final in Cologne on Ascension Day.

ERGO sales partner Thomas Knieps from the Koblenz Regional Office was the one who got the ball rolling. “What the flooding did is still visible and has stuck in many people’s minds.” Knieps reminded us that “almost all of the sports facilities by the River Ahr have yet to be repaired”. The Bad Neuenahr players, for example, consequently have to travel around 20 kilometres to train in the town of Rheinbach. The sales partner added: “Not only have the girls lost their sport for quite some time, but some of them went through a traumatic time.” The sales partner coach knows what he is talking about, as his own house was also flooded with water on the night of the disaster.

Sending a message of hope

The ten year old Theresa Bitzen, the Bad Neuenahr team’s goalkeeper, could hardly believe her luck. She had only just celebrated her birthday a few days earlier and was now bringing the ball onto the pitch in front of thousands in the stadium and millions on TV. During the night of the flood, she, along with her mother and siblings, had sought safety from the rising waters on the top floor of their family home. Neighbours had had to do the same. Her father was on the other side of the river at the time and could not get across to help. “It won’t be possible to erase such memories, but with this initiative we’ve once again sent a message. We wanted to give Theresa and the other girls hope”, explained Knieps. This was something very special for a big football fan like “Resi”. “Few people get the chance to meet the greats of German women’s football – in this case from Wolfsburg and Freiburg – up close, as she now has”, Thomas Knieps told us.

For the footballers of VfL Wolfsburg too, 18 May was definitely a special day. ERGO was again also present at the Cup Final on the electronic billboards. A new ERGO TV presenter who focused on the German women’s national team was also to be seen for the first time in a live broadcast by the public broadcaster, ARD.

Text: Lothar Grimm