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Meik Sieling has been in a wheelchair since childhood.
When he stormed into the final after entering the final, his friends pushed him onto the lawn
Photo:
KAI PFAFFENBACH / REUTERS
When Eintracht made it to the European Cup final for the first time in over 40 years in Frankfurt's Waldstadion on May 5th, when the fans ran onto the lawn, adults cried uncontrollably, in short: when all the dams broke, Meik Sieling was only able to say one word.
He and his friends were in the front row.
They asked him if he wanted to go on the lawn.
Sieling just said: "Up."
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Eintracht fan Sieling (front) storming the square with the Frankfurt hero Martin Hinteregger (left): »What a great day that was?!«
Photo: private
A little later they were in the middle of the cheering crowds, still running around when most of the fans were pushed back behind a barrier.
They celebrated with the team, met their hero Martin Hinteregger, and were given the official finals shirt by reserve keeper Diant Ramaj.
A picture of them went through the international media.
When Sieling arrived back in his native Marburg late at night, he said to himself: »What a great day that was?!«
Sieling has been in a wheelchair since birth.
"I had a lack of oxygen at birth and couldn't use my legs properly," he told SPIEGEL.
He does not know the exact name of his illness.
But despite his handicap, he not only follows Eintracht Frankfurt to home games, but also to away games.
50,000 Frankfurters in Seville
Eintracht has impressed many people this Europa League season with the passion of their fans.
All sorts of articles have been written about this famous club and its even more famous following, who manage to simply hijack the Camp Nou in Barcelona with 30,000 Frankfurters.
The pictures of it and also of the storming of the pitch after the final against West Ham at the beginning of May attracted attention from all over the world.
Now that Eintracht meets Glasgow in the Europa League final in the evening (9 p.m. / TV: RTL), you will probably see similarly impressive pictures again.
Over 50,000 Frankfurters are said to have traveled to Seville for the final venue.
The example of Meik Sieling helps to understand the impact this club can develop – and what it means to people.
The 28-year-old went to Barcelona, Rome or Bordeaux.
His friends from the »Pfeffi Section« fan club (based on a popular peppermint liqueur) always help him get there, heave the wheelchair into the bus, train or onto the lawn.
Your club has existed since 2015, and most of your fellow campaigners know each other from school days.
Daniel Beste is one of them and says: "When Meik said 'up', we grabbed him and went full throttle onto the pitch.
The absolute highlight was the picture with Hinti in front of the curve.«
The boys stayed in touch with defender Hinteregger afterwards, as Sieling reports: “A photo of us was in an Austrian newspaper.
So I quickly wrote to Hinti on Instagram, and he got me the paper.« The German and Austrian media described the pictures of Sieling, Beste and Dominik Zissel, who pushed the wheelchair in front of the surging sea of fans, as »memorable scenes«.
But as touching as the pictures after the game against West Ham were, an emotional highlight awaits the three friends at the final in Seville.
"That's the icing on the cake," says Sieling.
He is also reporting on the phone from Spain these days.
He traveled with his friends to Seville via Malaga.
“I received a card through the normal application process.
We're in F23 in the wheelchair block," says Sieling and adds with a laugh: "But let's see if we stay there if Eintracht wins."
Of course he was a bit excited because the Rangers eliminated teams like Dortmund or Leipzig.
But that doesn't dampen his optimism: "We win 3-0 and Eintracht wins the European Cup.
The players will make themselves immortal.«
And if the historical success is then reported in large illustrated books, it could even be that the photos of Sieling and his friends can be found in them.
