Together forever: The football fans devoted even in death

It may seem a bit strange to some, but there are football clubs both in Germany and abroad that offer fans an opportunity to remain close to their teams long after they have been given their final rites.

One example is the Schalke Fan Field, a cemetery located within shouting distance of the second-division club's home ground, the Veltins-Arena.

"There are a total of 1904 places in this thematic field," Ender Ulupinar told DW. Now, after 10 years, "the field has paid for itself," said Ulupinar, who noted that more than 100 graves have now been either filled or reserved.

"Until recently, I was actually losing money on it," said Ulupinar, a former Schalke amateur team goalkeeper who has been tending to the cemetery since he established it in 2012. When he first came up with the idea, he had hoped that the plan would break even much sooner than it did. Still, "I would do it all over again," he said.

The first fan cemetery in Germany opened back in 2008 in Hamburg. It is located just a stone's throw from HSV's Volksparkstadion. 

"You can hear the cheers when a goal is scored, that's how close the thematic cemetery is to the stadium," an employee of the operator who declined to give her name told DW. However, the demand in Hamburg remains modest at best. 

"Every few months, we get an inquiry from someone. We had certainly expected more than that," she said.

Of the 150 plots available to HSV fans, just 14 are currently occupied or reserved.

Scattering ashes at a special place

The option of being laid to rest in a club cemetery is not unique to Germany. In Buenos Aires, supporters of Boca Juniors have had the option to have their ashes scattered in their own cemetery since 2006.

In England, too, some clubs offer their supporters special ways to express their devotion even in death. At Manchester United's home ground, Old Trafford, a particularly loyal fan, William Moore, even had his ashes scattered on the pitch. However, this remains a one-off.   

Second-division English team Queens Park Rangers fulfill this final wish much more regularly. The ashes of over 100 supporters have been scattered at Loftus Road. The club even has its own chaplain for such occasions.  

Demand for such services in Britain is high — too high, in fact, to accommodate every request. What makes this more difficult is scattering ashes is not good for a football pitch, something that has led a number of clubs to come up with an alternative. Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Aston Villa, Chelsea, Leicester City, Everton, Newcastle, Wolverhampton, and the Scottish giants Rangers and Celtic have all set up memorial gardens where fans may have their ashes scattered.   

In Spain, too, some supporters want to remain close to their favorite club even after their lives are over. That's why Barcelona had burial niches built into the Camp Nou, where former players, officials and wealthy fans may find their final resting places. Atletico Madrid, Betis and Barcelona's city rivals Espanyol have similar facilities. 

Reburied at Schalke Fan Field 

Sometimes it is not the fans themselves who want to be buried near their favorite club's home ground — instead, some long to bring "home" a deceased former star.

Such was the case with Schalke's legendary midfielder from the 1960s and 70's, Reinhard "Stan" Libuda, who was recently reburied at the Schalke Fan Field. 

Because of space constrictions in Germany, graves are only occupied for a limited period of time by any one corpse.

A quarter century after his death, Libuda's original grave was due be leveled, which normally would be the end of the story. However, a group of fans launched a campaign for the former midfielder who happens to have been one of the few "Royal Blues" to have also played for Revierderby rivals Dortmund, to be re-interred at Schalke's club cemetery.

Several former teammates and friends gathered at the Schalke Fan Field to pay their final respects to Libuda for a second time, including the club's all-time leading goalscorer, Klaus Fischer, the famous twins Erwin and Helmut Kremers, and Sigfried Held, who was a teammate of Libuda's on the Dortmund side that won the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1966. 

"He was a very modest lad; he didn't say a lot. But he was a great footballer," Held told DW. 

"A very friendly and cheerful lad. It's really great that I was able to play alongside him," said Hannes Bongartz, a former Schalke teammate of Libuda's who was also at the ceremony.

"In any case, we Schalke fans are grateful to still be able to have our former No. 7 close by. Close to Royal Blue, where Reinhard was usually particularly happily," Schalke sporting director Peter Knäbel said. 

In death, you simply can't get any closer to both club and fans.

This article was adapted from German.