Champions Festival lights up Berlin
Sunday, June 7, 2015
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Great weather, a spectacular setting at the Brandenburg Gate and football for all; fans could hardly have wished for more over the four days of the 2015 Champions Festival in Berlin.
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Great weather, a spectacular setting at the Brandenburg Gate and football for all; fans could hardly have wished for more over the four days of the 2015 Champions Festival in Berlin.
Thousands soaked up the atmosphere, starting on Thursday with the arrival of the UEFA Champions League trophy in a Nissan, carried by two-time winner Christian Karembeu, with regular matches on the mini-pitch ensuring that football was at the heart of it all.
The stars came to meet fans and lead various sponsor activations, with highlights including Karembeu taking on international freestyler David Grubl in a penalty shoot-out, former Germany captain Michael Ballack offering young players his advice as part of a 'skills clinic' and France legend Zinédine Zidane showing off his undiminished talent at the Adidas hub.
DJ Robin Schulz provided the entertainment on Friday evening and there was plenty more music from the main stage each night. As ever, though, the biggest draw was the Ultimate Champions Match, featuring some of the best players from UEFA Champions League history as the World All-Stars, with the likes of Clarence Seedorf, Robert Pirès and Cafu, faced a Juve and Barca Legends side containing Edwin van der Sar, Fabrizio Ravanelli and Marc van Bommel.
The game also produced some of the best stories from the final, Adidas Young Champion Paxton Pomykal looking far from out of place amongst the legends after winning his place in the side while Tom Kinstler, winner of UEFA.com's #UltimateChampion competition, flew in all the way from Johannesburg, South Africa, and was barely able to contain his emotions after appearing alongside his Juventus heroes.
Kinstler was one of 58 players who had the honour of playing in the Fan Match at the Olympiastadion on Sunday, Ruud Gullit and Karembeu stepping in to mentor the sides. By then, FC Barcelona had been crowned European champions for a fifth time following their 3-1 victory against Juventus, the trophy having been delivered to the stadium beforehand by Nissan.
Meanwhile at the Champions Festival, fans got in the mood for the final with an hour-long live Facebook show featuring David Trézeguet and other guests on the main stage which reached 17 million people worldwide. Social media again played a major role with fans sharing their experience using the #UCLfinal hashtag. Their support on Twitter, in the form of over 10,000 retweets, meant both club crests were beamed onto the Brandenburg Gate on Friday night.
In all, an estimated 300,000 people attended the various events, with 15,000 of those posing for photos with the trophy, once again confirming the Champions Festival’s ability to bring a bit of footballing sparkle to the streets of the host city.