On 9 June 1968, one of the greatest sensations in East German football took place at Halle’s Kurt-Wabbel-Stadion. Thirteen thousand spectators watched freshly crowned champions FC Carl Zeiss Jena, one week after the end of the league season, take on underdogs 1. FC Union Berlin in the seventeenth FDGB-Pokal final. Union had finished eighth, fourteen points behind Jena.\n\nDuring the league season, Jena had beaten them 3–0 at home and drawn 0–0 in Berlin.
Almost everything spoke for the favourites, who hoped to become the first team in the GDR to win the double of league and cup. “The ambition of our opponents to become the first side to complete the double certainly does not make our task easier,” Union coach Werner Schwenzfeier said before the final.
