Text: Martin Gresch

Sergei, the BVB Fan

I first met Sergei Osipov at the 2013 Media Cup in Poland.

He was taking photos of almost every scene of his Russian team like mad.

As his English was only moderate, at first it was just a few friendly gestures.

But his friendly, open manner quickly won him many friends – in our team, too. In the years that followed we met again and again at various tournaments, and his English kept getting better. He became the Russian team’s interpreter and brought our teams closer together. Germans and Russians.

For his birthday, Borussia fan Sergei receives a BVB rubber duck from the German team. (Left: Sergei Osipov, next to him Martin Gresch)

Surprisingly, Sergei kept asking about BVB. He absolutely wanted to know every new development. A Russian so interested in a German Bundesliga club?!

That made me curious!

With sparkling eyes, he told me how his love for Borussia Dortmund began.

Another “Sergei” was the reason. From 1989 to 1992 Sergei Gorlukovich played for BVB. “In Russia, Gorlukovich is a famous player,” Sergei told me. “In 1988 he even won Olympic gold with the Soviet national team.”

And Sergei listed some of the players from BVB’s team back then: “Stefan Klos, Michael Zorc, Jürgen Kohler and Andy Möller.” But he especially liked Flemming Povlsen! That was all some time ago.

But even today he raves about the wonderful fans, the great stadium and BVB’s attractive football. Once a fan, always a fan!

Sergei lives in Bryansk (500,000 inhabitants), 350 km south-west of Moscow, where he writes about regional football for a local newspaper. “We have only one real professional team: Dinamo Bryansk.” For some years the team even played in the first division, but in 2012 it had to return to the second division (Centre zone) because of financial problems.

Sergei likes the Germans! “They are very friendly people!” he says.

Then he starts to grin: “When I think of German teams, I like to remember Gary Lineker’s famous line: football is a game in which 22 players chase a ball, and in the end the Germans always win.”

It’s not always like that!