Dortmund (dpa) – At the latest when the football anthem “You’ll Never Walk Alone” rang out in the Dortmund stadium, Germany’s number one sport had a good deal of long-awaited normality back.
Fans lifted their scarves, sang along euphorically and, after around two years in Corona mode, were looking forward to what football means to many of them: cheering in packed stadiums with like-minded people, leaving everyday life behind for 90 minutes.
Sold out – not a matter of course
For the first time in 763 days, the Signal Iduna Park and thus the nationally famous symbol of the Bundesliga atmosphere was sold out again with 81,365 spectators. Fans also celebrated their return in large numbers in other stadiums in the republic.
“We’ve waited two years for this. It’s also not the case that we take it for granted that after such a long time we’ll get the stadium sold out again immediately,” said former international Sebastian Kehl, who will take over as sports director at Borussia Dortmund from Michael Zorc in the summer , on the Sky TV channel. “Football brings people together. There are several elements, there is cheering, lying to the poor, there is laughter and also crying. I think that’s something we’ve lost a bit over the years,” he said.
At many Bundesliga locations, ultra groups returned to the stadium in an organized manner with the arenas being fully occupied. They celebrated their curve comeback with fan marches, posters and pyrotechnics shows. In Dortmund, Frankfurt or Berlin, many of the torches that were forbidden in the grandstands shone in the fan curves. “The curve is back – long live Eintracht Frankfurt”, said a large banner in front of Frankfurt’s north-west curve.
New experience for Bellingham
For some players, coaches and officials, the full stands were a completely new experience at their employer. Frankfurt coach Oliver Glasner was happy with 50,500 spectators about the “great atmosphere” and Dortmund coach Marco Rose said: “The guys who know it missed it. Jude Bellingham is experiencing it for the first time, and I am experiencing it for the first time as a head coach.”
The 45-year-old added before the game against RB Leipzig: “It’s a different game for us at home. We were already strong at home, with the fans behind us we can only win.” However, that did not work against the Red Bull Club at 1: 4.
Big clubs benefit
The stadiums were not sold out everywhere like in Dortmund, at 1. FC Union Berlin or at SC Freiburg. Only 15,014 people wanted to watch the game between TSG Hoffenheim and VfL Bochum.
Above all, the big clubs with many fans benefit enormously from the end of most corona restrictions, not only in terms of atmosphere, but also financially. According to managing director Hans-Joachim Watzke, BVB lost a total of 120 million euros due to the corona pandemic and the lost audience revenue.
While the Dortmunders now have to wait two weeks for the next game in their football temple, the Frankfurt fans are already looking forward to the big party in a few days. Eintracht welcomes FC Barcelona in the quarter-finals of the Europa League on Thursday.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:220403-99-778876/2
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