c/o pop Cup 2024

Summer temperatures, 19 highly motivated teams, the beautiful grounds of ESV Olympia - everything was ready for another soccer festival in the long-standing tradition of "Pop meets Football" tournaments, which have been taking place during or after the c/o pop festival since the good old post-popkomm days.

The preliminary round with a total of 40 matches lasted well into the afternoon. After a thunderstorm had fortunately just passed the north of Cologne, the teams for the quarter-finals were determined:

Spex 72, N-Unity, Grenzenlos in Bewegung, Grüngürtelrosen, AC Monello, Team Olympia Pop, Zwirbel Moves and the defending champions Freitags Fuppes. AC Monello, N-Unity, Grenzenlos in Bewegung and Freitags Fuppes then made it through to the semi-finals.

In the final, N-Unity, a group of young footballers who fled to Germany two years ago to escape the war against Ukraine, and Grenzenlos in Bewegung, a Cologne club that has set itself the goal of promoting exchange with refugees through a wide range of sports, faced off against two teams that not only deservedly prevailed over the other teams in sporting terms, but also once again exemplified the social impact of football.

And GiB actually pulled off the surprise, defending their own goal against the fast and technically skilled Ukrainians, while the decisive goal shortly before the end made it 1:0.

Many thanks to all teams, spectators, referees, our great DJs, the ESV Olympia and the Clubheim Olympia and Derbystar for their support.

Photos: Christian Schürmann / We Own You

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