Feyenoord fans have been eagerly awaiting the Conference League final against AS Roma tonight. Assenaar Thomas Klein Bramel is there: he travels with friends to the playing city of Tirana and can’t wait for the duel to start.
De Drent left from Hamburg airport for Albania, where he hopes Feyenoord will beat the Italians. The Rotterdammers can win their first European prize since 2002 in Tirana. Moreover, if they win, they will go down in the books as the first winner of the Conference League, the third European club tournament in terms of level.
If that comes to that, it will be a new highlight for Klein Bramel since he is a supporter of the Rotterdam team. “The most remarkable moment since I’ve been a fan is the championship in 2017”, he looks back on the match in which Dirk Kuijt made a hat-trick. “Feyenoord hadn’t won a prize for years, but that scale was taken anyway.”
Klein Bramel has a Feyenoord season ticket and visits home and away matches. A long drive from Assen, but he is willing to pay for it. “Once you walk into De Kuip, you are sold. De Kuip and the legion have something magical. You all come for the same thing and that is the love for Feyenoord. It is always an experience, something really special.”
In the group stage of the Conference League, Klein Bramel also crossed the border to support the club. He went to Berlin for the game against Union Berlin. And recently he witnessed the draw in Marseille, which saw Feyenoord qualify for the final against AS Roma. “The tension is now rising, but it’s not that I’m awake. At least the Feyenoord shirt is in the bag.”
What does he expect from the final? “You hope Feyenoord will score quickly, but AS Roma also has a good team. I don’t dare to say anything with certainty, because the final is a game in itself. It would be the first European prize for Feyenoord where I am present. That’s very special.”