Cardboard cutouts of fans to liven up matches

JEDDAH: The Bundesliga became the first top European league to return on Saturday during the coronavirus pandemic, behind closed doors and with strict hygiene measures in place.

The last Bundesliga game was played on March 11 as the virus was beginning to take hold in Germany.

Clubs plan to use music and cardboard cutouts of fans to liven up the atmosphere at matches. Borussia Monchengladbach have come up with a unique way to support their players in an empty stadium — with cardboard cutouts of fans.

Fans have ordered more than 12,000 cardboard cutouts of themselves to help fill Borussia-Park, the club said.

A tweet from @borussia_en stated: “The home stands are filling up nicely though! Over 4,500 cut-outs in place and 12,000+ ordered Smiling face with heart-shaped eyes. The website is now live in English too to give our international fans a chance to order their cutout for €19 via bank transfer.”

A report in bundesliga.com added: “Unable to lend their vociferous support in the usual way, Gladbach fans have contributed to the ‘Stay at home. Be in the stands’ campaign in their droves. For €19, the ‘cardboard you’ will be installed in the stands, with the proceeds going to local charities. The Foals have even allowed for fans of other teams to order a cut-out which will be placed in the away end.

“The campaign organizers are regularly overrun with orders; we can hardly keep up trying to install them all,” Gladbach fan representative Thomas Weinmann was quoted as saying in the article.

“But we’re obviously delighted with the overwhelming support it’s received.”

Gladbach players, coaches and board members had previously agreed to forgo their salaries in order to help the club and its employees.

Meanwhile, Borussia Dortmund’s rising star Giovanni Reyna, 17, suffered heartbreak minutes before what would have been his first Bundesliga start when he was injured warming up before the Ruhr derby at home to Schalke on Saturday.

Reyna, a USA Under-17 international, was named in the starting line-up on the right wing, instead of injured England wing Jadon Sancho.

However, the American teenager had to withdraw from his first Ruhr derby at the last minute after pulling up during the warm up.