Rare scenery: Enthusiastic fans and followers of Elias Nerlich cheer on the district league team Photo: Fabian Sommer/dpa
From BZ/dpa
In front of a crowd of around 1000 spectators, which was huge for the eleventh division, the newly founded amateur football club Delay Sports celebrated a victory in their competitive debut.
With the participation of the former professional Sidney Friebe from Hertha BSC as a scorer to 1-0, but without the former Rostock and Wolfsburg Bundesliga player Kevin Pannewitz, the C district league team won the game in the first qualifying round of the state cup against the A district league team Traber FC with 5:1 (2:0).
Elias Nerlich goes into the dressing room with his bodyguard Photo: Fabian Sommer/dpa
The club, which started in the eleventh division with a special permit granted by the Berlin Football Association (BFV), was founded by former e-sportsman Elias Nerlich. The 24-year-old influencer is Germany’s largest streamer on the live stream platform Twitch with an average of 35,000 viewers.
Together with other internet stars on the pitch, Nerlich mobilized his followers to the stadiums. He himself came with bodyguards. Rap music sounded in Prussia Park. After the final whistle, fans lined up to take selfies with Nerlich.
The new club has almost 380,000 subscribers on Instagram, putting it in 14th place among all German football clubs – ahead of the Berlin Bundesliga clubs Union and Hertha. The small clubs in amateur sports also benefit from the crowds of spectators on the pitches. Delay Sports’ first league game in the district league is next Sunday (2:00 p.m.) at VfB Sperber Neukölln III.
Nerlich congratulates his players Photo: Fabian Sommer/dpa
The league record for eleventh leagues in Germany is still a long way off for Delay Sports. On October 9, 2004, the traditional club Lok Leipzig, which was then in the lowest division and occupied with celebrities, defeated opponent Eintracht Großdeuben II in the 3rd district class Leipzig 8:0.
Elias Nerlich and his fans – of course it has to be recorded for his social media channels Photo: Fabian Sommer/dpa
12,421 paying spectators attended the Leipzig Central Stadium. Overall, Lok had an average attendance of 3325 visitors this season.