After the final whistle has sounded in Marseille, a hurricane of sound breaks loose on the Stadhuisplein in Rotterdam a thousand kilometers away. Officially there is room for 2000 fans to follow the match, but in the center a multitude of them are walking around in Feyenoord clothing. Singing and shouting they watch the match on big screens.
In the Vélodrome, Feyenoord drew 0-0 against Olympique Marseille. After the 3-2 win in the first leg, it means that the team from Rotterdam will go to the final of the Conference League. It will be Feyenoord’s first European final in 20 years, so everyone will be singing along passionately to ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’. Immediately after the game, cars drive through the streets honking their horns and complete strangers fall into each other’s arms.
“This means so much for the city, you can see that right away.” Jimmy, in his forties in a blue vest with Feyenoord logo, is apparently one of the only sober fans. Normally he is at home games in the Kuip, now he is on the supporters square. “My daughter plays soccer with the Feyenoord women’s team promises, so of course I’m a fan.”
‘Gone years older’
There isn’t enough space inside the gates, so a few hundred men are standing just next to it, half-viewing a TV screen. “God, what a heavy pot,” says Jan van der Heijde, who came to Rotterdam with his daughter Dafny from Gelderland for the competition. They have cans of beer in their backpack.
More than once a curse word comes out of him, after which his daughter corrects him. After a good attack, he passionately deploys ‘not words, but deeds’. “Gone years older”, he growls after the first half. But he knows it’s worth it, because twenty years ago he was also there when Feyenoord reached the final of the UEFA cup. “You will never forget this, this is what you do it for as a supporter.”
Triana
Jimmy can’t really remember the previous European final, which was won by Feyenoord at the time. Grinning: „Don’t tell anyone, but I was always for Ajax in the past.”
The final is on May 25 in Tirana, the capital of Albania. The party atmosphere in Rotterdam may just last until that day.