Thousands of cardboard fans will cheer on Borussia Mönchengladbach as soon as the German league returns, suspended by the Covid-19 pandemic. In anticipation of upcoming matches behind closed doors, fans of the German club have created an app to create life-size effigies of theirs and install them in stadiums when football returns.
Since Thursday, fans of the club, which is fourth in the Bundesliga, can already buy, for 19 euros, an image of him in cardboard. It will help them to virtually attend matches, explained the Fanprojekt Mönchengladbach group. "We will be the first club to bring a bit of life to the stadium and ensure the presence of the fans, while they are obliged to follow the games from home," said the group on its website.
"For the first game on our field without an audience, we will make sure that the effigies are placed exactly where the fans are," the association has promised. The figures will be manufactured by two small companies in Mönchengladbach (North Rhine-Westphalia, 260,000 inhabitants) that are closed due to the coronavirus crisis.
The idea has received "positive comments", says a representative of the group of fans, Thomas Tower Weinmann, to the Bild newspaper : "We are going to manufacture cardboard avatars at almost cost price and first we will order 1,000 units, although we hope to order more", He added, to add: "It is also a practical thing for fans because, when they can finally attend the stadium in person, they can hang their avatars on the wall of their house."
The Bundesliga is interrupted until at least next April 30. Without income, the German clubs and the league agreed to play the matches behind closed doors as soon as possible and sanitary conditions allow it, to collect audiovisual rights, an important part of the clubs' money.
