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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
Tom Doyle

Borussia Monchengladbach embrace flat atmosphere - literally - with cardboard fans for Bundesliga restart

One of the guilty pleasures for football fans is watching back the highlights of a game you went to and hoping to spot yourself.

Now, Borussia Monchengladbach fans will be able to see themselves at Borussia Park from the comfort of their homes in real-time.

With Bundesliga football returning this weekend minus the fans due to the coronavirus pandemic, Gladbach have come up with a novel way to pack their stands - although the atmosphere might be a tad flat.

The German club have offered fans the chance to buy a cardboard cut-out of themselves to place in the stands, with over 12,000 ordered so far.

The club said last week that around 4,500 cut-outs were in place, and with thousands more orders placed, the stadium should at least look like it has an atmosphere - and season ticket holders will even be able to pick their usual seat.

With Gladbach restarting their campaign away to Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday, fans will have to wait until May 23 to see the cut-outs sitting perfectly still against Bayer Leverkusen.

Gladbach forward Marcus Thuram said: “When you first come into the stadium, for three or four seconds you don’t realise that it’s not real people.

Sadly, we can’t get the same noise from the crowd, but it’s still a nice feeling to have the fans there."

(Bongarts/Getty Images)

The cut-outs - run on a non-profit initiative - cost €19 (£16.80), with €2.50 going to Fanprojekt Mönchengladbach and another €2.00 to their campaign 'Borussen helfen Borussen' (Foals help Foals) and the Borussia Foundation.

For more information, click here.

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