Values that go beyond football

Throughout the morning, Dortmund hosted the Follow Something Unique initiative, a programme of events promoting some of Athletic Club's core values, such as sportsmanship, respect, identity and diversity,

The Champions League draw meant the Athletic Club Foundation, which is promoting the campaign, found the perfect partner in the BVB LEUCHTE AUF Foundation to help launch this initiative. 

Thanks to this collaboration, the planned programme was carried out in a magnificent atmosphere.

Carlos Gurpegui and Kevin Großkreutz, Walking Football captain

A Walking Football match was held at Borussia's EVONIK football academy. While our team consisted entirely of Athletic Club Members who had travelled to Dortmund, the BVB side was made up of fans from their Walking Football team.

German coaches led a joint warm-up following the Life Kinetik method (which combines physical movement, coordination, visual stimuli and cognitive challenges), and after an exchange of pennants, captains Gurpegui and Großkreutz got proceedings underway at 11:00 AM.

There were four 15-minute matches. Although the result was irrelevant, Gary Lineker's famous quote was proven true: "Football is a simple game. Twenty-two men chase a ball and at the end, the Germans always win." 

In any case, the true winner was the great atmosphere throughout the day.


Planting an oak tree as a sign of gratitude 

At mid-morning, around 12:30, an oak tree (an important symbol of Basque culture) brought from Bilbao by Athletic Club was planted in Maurice Vast Straße Park, near Signal Iduna Stadium. It was a way of showing gratitude for the hospitality received through a symbolic gesture filled with meaning: identity and tradition.

Attending the ceremony on behalf of Athletic Club were vice-presidents Nerea Ortiz and Jon Ruigómez, directors Josetxu Urrutia and Laura Ruiz de Azua, and Johana Ruiz-Olabuenaga, director of community relations. Representing Borussia Dortmund Carsten Cramer (BVB's chief marketing officer) and Maike Vollmer (BVB's foundation manager) attended the event, as well as city mayor Ute Mais, who was accompanied by Martin van der Puetten and Heiko Just.

After a few words of welcome from the mayor, Athletic's vice-president and Borussia's marketing director, the oak tree was planted and the two delegations exchanged gifts, including shirts from their respective teams featuring the names of their foundations.

Athletic Club's shirt sported the name of BVB's foundation, LEUCHTE AUF, and the number 09, referring to the year the club was founded. ‘Leuchte auf, mein Stern Borussia’ (Shine, my star Borussia) is a popular song among Die Schwarzgelben (the Black and Yellows).

If the spirit of Athletic Club can be summed up in two slogans, “Made in Euskal Herria” and “Unique In The World”, the maxim on which Borussia bases its identity is well known: “Echte Liebe” (True Love). This expression refers to the extraordinary bond between the team and its fans. True Love that is embodied every other weekend at Signal Iduna Park's Yellow Wall, the most impressive standing terrace on the continent.

The plaque Athletic Club has placed next to the oak tree has the following words written on it: 

"Wir kamen als Rivalen, wir gehen als Freunde. Danke, Dortmund, eskerrik asko."
‘We came as opponents, we leave as friends. Thank you, Dortmund, eskerrik asko.’