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Berlin is prepared for a busy DFB Pokal cup final weekend with former U.S. president Barack Obama making one of his first public appearances since leaving office earlier this year at the German Protestant Church Congress. The DFB Pokal final between Borussia Dortmund and Eintracht Frankfurt is scheduled for May 27 at Berlin's Olympiastadion, with the German Protestant Church Congress and a bank holiday weekend already taking place in the German capital. Two days before the final on Thursday May 25, Obama will make one of his first public appearances at the Brandenburg Gate. The DFB have confirmed to ESPN FC that they have no plans to invite Obama to the game as their information is he will not be in the city on that day. Some 500,000 tourists plus around 100,000 participants of the Church Congress will mix with fans from both clubs who are expected to turn out in large numbers, exceeding the total ticket allotment for the teams of 40,000 by far. "Hotel rooms are already rare," Anja Mikulla, deputy spokeswoman at VisitBerlin, told ESPN FC, and added that "Berlin will be prepared." With large numbers of fans expected, Berlin police are also expecting a busy cup final weekend. "We will not go into the weekend unprepared," Martin Halweg, a spokesperson at Berlin police, said. "We have several weekends during the course of a year where we have to cover more than one event." Halweg added that security for Obama's visit will have a very high level, and said: "It's not Mr. Obama's first visit to Berlin." While details over the duration of the former President's stay in the German capital are yet to be released, police are also focusing on security for the Breitscheidplatz, where a truck was driven into a Christmas market in December 2016, killing 12 people and injuring several more. "We have December's event in the back of our minds," Halweg said, adding that he could not disclose more details. The Breitscheidplatz in Berlin's old west has been a meeting place for Borussia Dortmund supporters during recent cup final appearances. With the German Protestant Church Congress still ongoing and parts of the Congress taking place inside and outside the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedachtniskirche at the Breitscheidplatz there had been doubts whether fans would be able to meet up. "We will hand over the stage to the German FA on Saturday," Alexander Matzkeit, spokesperson for the German Protestant Church Congress, told ESPN FC while Halweg said: "We know that Dortmund fans love to celebrate at the Breitscheidplatz. We welcome them to Berlin."
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