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The Korean football team's official fan club invaded Germany on Monday morning to root for the squad in its first match against Togo. One 80-strong contingent of the Red Devils left Korea the previous day and arrived at Frankfurt Airport via Hong Kong at 5 a.m. Another 80-strong group who arrived via Amsterdam also unpacked their bags at a camping site in Mörfelden, some 40 minutes from the Commerzbank Arena in Frankfurt where the Korean soccer squad will play Togo on Monday night.
Another 320 Red Devils who left the country last Friday took a bus from Paris on Monday morning to join the rest at the camping site, where they were welcomed by some 50 members of the Korea Worldcup Organisation Komittee, a group of second-generation Korean Germans. The Red Devils brought 1,000 Red Devil T-shirts with them to distribute to ethnic Koreans there. All paid for their own trip, which cost on average around W1.7 million (US$ 1,700).
¡°The reason we¡¯re here today is to cheer our national soccer team in the stadium,¡± the leader of the Red Devils¡¯ overseas supporters Ban Woo-yong (34) said. They will go back to ther camping site by bus after the match with Togo for a Korean dinner. But if Team Korea wins, they will stop off near the central station downtown and have some fun, he said.
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On the eve of the 2006 World Cup, fans from Brazil and Korea cheer their teams in Munich¡¯s Marienplatz on Thursday.
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After the match between Mexico and Iran on Sunday evening, Frankfurt¡¯s central Goetheplatz was crowded with fans from around the world. Supporters of England, which narrowly defeated Paraguay 1-0 the previous day, had occupied a corner of the square since noon and spent the next 12 hours singing and haranguing supporters of other teams who passed by. Mexico supporters eventually attacked strumming guitars and chanting in support of their own side but were driven back. It was all done in a happy spirit, and Iran supporters and fans from the U.S., Brazil and Korea also enjoyed themselves in the square. After the Togo match, the Red Devils move on to Hanover on June 22, the eve of Korea¡¯s match with Switzerland.
Ethnic Koreans will also take to the streets to root for their team. The Bundesverband der Koreaner in Deutschland, an organization of Korean residents in Germany, has set up a stall at the official Fan Fest at the Frankfurt Convention Center near the Main River. The Red Devils will also be joined by a contingent of supporters from North Korea outside the stadium. Another Korean fan club called the Red Tigers is also to make common cause with the Devils.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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