Last night, Brian, Jayme and I attended our first ever Bundesliga match at Signal Iduna Park in Dortmund, Germany. Dortmund’s own hosted Union Berlin.
This experience gave me the same kinds of vibes as our journey to Wrexham close to 2 years ago, but on a much larger scale.
Like I did with our Bayern Munich match the other night, I’m going to skip the narrative and give you my quick impressions:
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The central train station in Dortmund was spewing out masses of people covered in black and yellow. We watched them as we ate lunch right across the street, after having gone to the German Football Museum with our walking tour guide.
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Have you ever seen the scenes in movies where people march, and then people along the way join in on the march? And the crowd of marchers just continues to grow until it’s this mass of people moving through the arteries of the city? That’s what it was like walking from City Center to the stadium area.
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There were separate entry lines for men vs. women. We didn’t know this, of course, but it was because they do pat-downs before you are allowed inside the stadium. Poor Jayme had to go back to the end of the women’s line and start the queue over.
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All around the stadium, black and yellow everywhere. I mean everywhere.
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What fascinated me (and made me smile) was that Dortmund (entering the game) was in 12th place in the Bundesliga standings. 12th!! And still this many people. Fantastic!
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The Euro-pop playing before the game. Still as strong as ever.
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Coming from Atlanta and having our beloved United play in Mercedes-Benz Stadium, we know a thing or two about large sporting venues. The size of this place, though, can’t be described.
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It’s a completely different feeling than Munich. Completely different experience and environment. It makes Bayern Munich look corporate.
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When they were decked out in their red and white ponchos, the Union Berlin fans looked like they were at a graduation ceremony.
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When fans from both sides lit flares right at the start of the match, Jayme turned to me and asked: “How does this place not burn down every match?”
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If any American thinks the NFL is the be-all-end-all, I implore you to go watch a Dortmund match at home. It’s special.
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Announced attendance: 81,365
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Despite the score at 0-4, Berlin fans were still rocking. Also at 0-5. Again at 0-6. And even at the end of the match. The passion had not subsided.
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I don’t know what one beyond a hat trick is, but #9 Serhou Guirassy had 4 goals on the night.
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Honestly, being there, being present in the moment, makes you forget the standings. This was a #12 (Dortmund) vs. #13 (Berlin) in the standings match. And no one cared. The passion (for both teams) was still very much on display.
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Dortmund did move up to 10th with the win! 😀
