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Why Borussia Dortmund fans sing ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ before Champions League match against PSG

Published

2 months ago

April 30, 2024

Why Borussia Dortmund fans sing 'You'll Never Walk Alone' before Champions League match against PSG

‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ by Gerry and the Pacemakers may be a permanent fixture at Anfield, but even without Liverpool participating in the UEFA Champions League this season, the song will not go unheard in Europe’s top club competition.

Borussia Dortmund fans have been singing the song at home games since 1996 and will no doubt be ready to do so again on Wednesday when the team plays in the Champions League semi-finals for the first time in eleven years and hosts Paris Saint-Germain in the Signal Iduna Park. occasion. The decades-long foundation at the Dortmund matches came about thanks to a once-skeptical cover band, a request from a friend and a connection with their local club.

Here’s a look at the history behind ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ which became an iconic anthem for Dortmund fans.

One cover band covers another

Matthias Kartne, the cover band Pur Harmony from Dortmund, received a request from a good friend in 1996: a cover of ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’. Kartne greeted the question hesitantly and simply said in a interview with Liverpool’s official website“Oh no!”

However, the group obliged a week later and sold 50,000 copies of the cover. The Dortmund fan then shared the recording with the club’s stadium announcer, who played the recording one day, winning over the fans. The club’s fans were also quick to prefer it to Gerry and the Pacemakers’ iconic rendition.

“Norbert Dickel [Dortmund’s stadium announcer] I tried to use Gerry and the Pacemakers’ version, but the fans liked our song [better]”, said Kartne.

The football legacy of the song

The best-known version of the song was released in 1963 by Liverpool band Gerry and the Pacemakers, who covered a showtune from the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical. Carousel. In the musical, one character sings it to comfort protagonist Julie after her husband stabs himself following an attempted robbery. The emotional weight of the song, even outside the context of the musical, has clearly resonated with football fans in several countries.

Gerry and the Pacemakers’ version peaked at number one in the UK Singles Chart for four consecutive weeks and was quickly adopted by Liverpool fans as their anthem. Several other clubs in Europe adopted the song as their own, including Celtic in 1966 and fellow Bundesliga club Mainz.