talkSPORT
Borussia Monchengladbach fans have ordered more than 8,000 cardboard cutouts of themselves to fill their stadium if the Bundesliga returns behind closed doors.
Last month, the German Football League (DFL) suspended Bundesliga football due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has claimed over 200,000 lives worldwide.
However, there are plans for the Bundesliga to restart on May 9 with players already returning to training.
And Borussia Monchengladbach have started a unique way to support their players in an empty stadium through the ‘Stay at home. Be in the stands’ campaign.
Gladbach fans are able to buy cardboard cutouts of themselves for £16.50 to fill Borussia-Park, the club’s home stadium, if the remaining 2019/20 matches are played behind closed doors.
Profits from the cutouts will go towards local causes.
Borussia Monchengladbach’s supporter representative Thomas Weinmann said: “The campaign organisers are regularly overrun with orders.
“We can hardly keep up trying to install them, but we’re obviously delighted with the overwhelming response it has received.”
Before the Bundesliga campaign was suspended, Gladbach were in fourth place but only six points behind leaders Bayern Munich.
Meanwhile, Borussia Dortmund chief executive Hans-Joachim Watzke insists the Bundesliga will drastically change if the current season is not completed soon.
He said: “Of course I know that many fans say because the atmosphere in the stadium is not there, it’s not going to come over as well on TV.
“But if we want to save football, and it’s all about saving football here, we’re not talking small matters. It comes down to this.
“If we don’t play in the next few months and the season is cancelled, then the Bundesliga will no longer exist in the form we have come to know.”