"Now just put a few rotten bananas in the dressing room": the smallest village in DFB Cup history are dreaming of a sensation

Around 550 people live in Krieschow; no smaller village has ever been represented in the DFB Cup. The local Oberliga side are dreaming of an upset against Mainz 05.

It has been a hectic few weeks in Krieschow since the slip bearing the words "FSV Mainz 05" came out of the draw. Volunteers have put up stands for 4,000 spectators at the sports park in the 550-strong village in Brandenburg, while towers for Sky TV cameras have also gone up. For the biggest match in VfB Krieschow's history, everyone in the smallest village in DFB Cup history is mucking in.

Now they all want to be there when the Oberliga side from the district of the municipality of Kolkwitz in the Spree-Neiße district chase a shock against the Bundesliga club. "At the first ticket sale in the clubhouse, there was a queue like in the deepest days of the GDR, in two lines," village head Jeannine Mau told the Lausitzer Rundschau ahead of Sunday's first-round match (3.30pm).

"Actually, it has been hanging over the whole of pre-season. It feels like people are only talking about this match," said striker Andy Hebler. So how does he plan to crack Mainz? "First of all, they have a long training week, then they have to travel 600 kilometres to the deepest east. We have already joked: now turn the dressing room up to 40 degrees and put a few rotten bananas in there so they are properly annoyed," said the 37-year-old.

The smallest village in the cup: Oberliga side Krieschow want to annoy Mainz

In the end, Hebler said, Krieschow want to be "good hosts". To do that, they turned down a move to the far bigger stadium of newly promoted second-tier side Energie Cottbus, whom VfB had surprisingly beaten 2-1 in the state cup final.

Instead, they chose to get their own sports park ready for the big football circus, even though there is usually only room for 250 spectators at Oberliga matches. The temporarily erected structures can hold 4,000 fans, and 1,000 tickets went to Mainz.

Since the draw at the beginning of June, preparations have been in full swing under the supervision of groundsman Benno Neupetsch. A large chunk of the €211,886 Krieschow will receive for reaching the first round of the cup is going into the alterations.

"Maybe one or two per cent": will Krieschow knock Mainz out of the cup?

"I think Benno has basically not been able to sleep for four weeks. Every day he checks every centimetre of the pitch, how high it is and whether there is still an uneven patch that needs to be levelled out," said Hebler, who will walk onto the pitch with his son as a mascot.

His son, the striker said, is "of course happy when he sees himself on television". Hebler will also record the match and "will probably watch it another two or three times in the next few weeks".

As for victory or defeat, Hebler is staying upbeat. "How big is the chance? Maybe one per cent, two per cent, I don't know. In any case, I want to approach it in a sporting way and make use of those small chances that we may have." The forward added that he might get "a free-kick and it goes in".