Frankfurt put down rivals Potsdam

History has been made twice in the UEFA Women's Cup in 2006 - first 1. FFC Frankfurt defeated 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam in May in the only all-German final to date, and then this season the last-four stage was reached without a single Bundesliga team remaining.

Germans prevail
The 2005/06 edition came to the quarter-final round last October with the highlights of the second qualifying round having been draws for Montpellier HSC and AC Sparta Praha against holders Potsdam and inaugural winners Frankfurt respectively. Sparta then lost 2-0 on aggregate to 2004/05 runners-up Djurgårdens/Älvsjö but Montpellier overcame Brøndby IF 6-1 on aggregate. However, it was Frankfurt and Potsdam who earned places in May's two-legged final, though neither had it easy; Frankfurt recovered from a 1-0 home loss to Montpellier to win 3-2 in France and go through on away goals, while Potsdam needed a 5-2 second-leg victory in Sweden to oust Djurgårdens/Älvsjö 7-5 overall.

Potsdam shocked
Potsdam held the upper hand in German domestic football last season, but in the first leg Frankfurt soared to a 4-0 away win. Renate Lingor scored on seven minutes and by the time she added another late on Sandra Albertz and Kerstin Garefrekes had already helped themselves to second-half goals. "We were just bad," confessed Potsdam striker Conny Pohlers.

Frankfurt cheer
The German international was in fact first on target in the return eight minutes into a match watched by a competition record crowd of 13,200. But Steffi Jones, who also scored against Umeå IK in the first final back in 2002, struck in the 23rd minute and although Pohlers scored again before half time, Lingor converted a penalty on 72 minutes and deep into added time Prinz, the other goalscorer four years earlier, ensured Frankfurt won 3-2 on the day as well as 7-2 on aggregate.

Experience tells
Lingor explained that Frankfurt had been spurred on by criticism suggesting that their squad was aging. "After all, you could just turn it around and say that we are so experienced and have so many starters for the national side in our team, that it should be very, very hard to beat us," she told uefa.com

Umeå meet Arsenal
However, this season Frankfurt were knocked out in the quarter-finals by a stunning Kolbotn IL comeback, while Potsdam lost to Brøndby. Kolbotn and Brøndby were then overcome by two-time champions Umeå and Arsenal LFC, so those teams will meet in April for the trophy.