The Europa League is played in Seville, where the football fans are from Eintracht

Rangers and Eintracht fans, yesterday in the Plaza de España in Seville. PACO PUENTES (EL PAÍS)

Eintracht Frankfurt had 5,800 members in 2001;

today it has 100,000 and there are thousands of fans who have mobilized with their team during their trip through the Europa League.

The growth is explained, above all, by the figure that has led the entity for precisely 22 years and that responds to the name of Peter Fischer, the same one who once proclaimed: “As long as I am the president, there will be no Nazi at Eintracht Frankfurt.

"We are also more than a club," Fischer conceded in an interview with Isaac Lluch in the Ara newspaper before Eintracht crossed with Barça.

“We have positioned ourselves against racism, against fascism, against anti-Semitism, against homophobia (…) and for such a statement we have been distinguished in political acts.

We use the popularity of football to fight anti-Semitism," Fischer said.

The president appeared in Plaça de Catalunya and led the march of Eintracht supporters to the Camp Nou on the day of the match.

Some 35,000 German fans took over the stadium to the surprise of the Barça board and fans.

Although there were some complaints about their behavior, those fans had bought their tickets and did not invade the field to celebrate their team's victory and classification by 2-3 (1-1 in Germany).

The blaugrana directive was overcome by the collection effort in the face of the financial bankruptcy presented by the institution, while some Barcelona fans sold their membership cards and season-ticket holders on resale: the figure estimated by the club amounted to 15,000.

The image of the Camp Nou occupied by German fans caused a social, economic and sporting crisis at Barça.

There is a before and after Eintracht.

The flag of the German club is the culture of the fan, highly applauded in the Bundesliga against the business football that Leipzig represents, in the same way that the social engine of President Joan Laporta's Barcelona has always been the member, since 2003, when promoted the El Gran Repte campaign and also today since it eliminated the restrictions so that anyone in the world can join the club for 195 euros.

Eintracht received more than 250,000 requests for the match it played at its stadium against Barcelona and for the return leg at the Camp Nou it even registered requests from fans residing in the Mauritius Islands.

There are no doubts about the social power of the club, nor about its multi-sports character - it has 19 sections - and less about the political commitment defended by Fischer, regularly invited to media events in Germany.

Eintracht always plays protected, at their home in Deutsche Bank Park, and in the opposite field, as can be seen in their career: they have won five games on the rival court and only drew the last one of the qualifying phase in Turkey against Fenerbahçe.

They also eliminated Betis at Villamarín and, apparently, did not leave a bad memory for the Verdiblanca fans (1-2).

120 nationalities

The club from Frankfurt, the financial capital of Germany, prefers to gain complicity as they well know in Barça and also in Glasgow.

The Eintracht trophy room exhibits the 1976 Gamper runner-up cup, when it was defeated by Barça in a match remembered for Macizo's relentless marking of the legendary Grabowski, and two of the club's rooms bear the name of Glasgow I and Glasgow II.

The Scots and the Germans starred in the 1960 European Cup semi-final which was won by Real Madrid at Hampden Park with some 130,000 spectators 7-3.

Eintracht eliminated Glasgow Rangers before being defeated in the final by four goals from Puskas and three from Di Stéfano.

Today he returns to a European final, 42 years after winning the UEFA Cup in 1980 against Borussia Moenchengladbach and Intertoto in 1967 —only Manchester City took longer: 51 years—, two titles added to the five cups conquered in his country and to a Bundesliga (1959).

A discreet record for a historic club, founded in 1899, and which is now also a pioneer in treating fans: "We are a multicolored society and in our club we have up to 120 nationalities," argues Fischer.

Eintracht decidedly boasts of being more than a club after knocking Barcelona offside.

You can follow EL PAÍS Deportes on

Exclusive content for subscribers

read without limits

subscribe

I'm already a subscriber