iImmune Wins the Elite Cup!
On June 14, 2025, the students of the Elite Graduate Program “Integrated Immunology” participated in the Elite Cup football tournament, in Munich. The event was organized by the Master in Quantitative Economics at Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU). It was a hot, sunny day, and the twelve teams competing across Bavaria were ready to play in the beautiful Olympiapark. The iImmune team was one of the largest teams present, bringing many students eager to compete, and lots of spectators to cheer them on!
Advancing to the finals
The preliminary stage consisted of 3 groups with 4 teams each. The top two teams from each group would enter one bracket, and the bottom two from each group, another. The teams in each bracket would play within themselves, and the winners of each bracket would play in the final. iImmune did well in the group stages and placed in the top bracket after winning the majority of their games.
After a delicious lunch provided by the LMU hosts, the tournament continued. iImmune played strongly but unfortunately lost a critical game after a tie led to a penalty shootout. Now, the game had become much more difficult. This loss meant that the team had dropped to the lower bracket, and had to win every match to remain in the tournament.
It was a tough challenge, but the team faced it with determination and skill. Painstakingly, one by one, they played and defeated their opponents, slowly but surely making their way towards the final. In one especially exciting match, iImmune was two goals down with less than 5 minutes on the clock, but managed to equalize the score, and win the resulting penalty shootout!
The final match
By the time iImmune reached the final, the spectators voices were sore from all the cheering! However, the work was not finished, and so everyone dug deep to play the most important game of the day. It was a tense match against the Master of Quantitative Economics host team from LMU, but ultimately, iImmune prevailed.
The day was one to remember, with great weather, an even better atmosphere, and a trophy to take home! The Integrated Immunology program looks forward to welcoming everyone to Erlangen next year and defending their title for Elite Cup 2026.
Written by Avanti Karkhanis, Integrated Immunology