Bayern Munich’s Brazilian Dante poses with a Bayern Munich fan David Fichtinger from Austria at Grand Heritage Hotel yesterday. Dante was voted among the Bundesliga’s best players for the 2011-2012 season. The Brazilian centre-back received the accolade after players in the three German divisions voted for him. The 29-year-old was at Borussia Mönchengladbach before joining Bayern for an estimated fee of €5m.
By Armstrong vas
Doha: A large number of Bayern Munich fans have been making a beeline to Aspire Academy and Grand Heritage Hotel in a bid to have a glimpse of their favourite stars.
The players of the Bundesliga table-toppers have been virtually been mobbed by fans everywhere they go in Qatar.
The fans wait patiently for the right moment to strike at the ever obliging stars. The request from fans ranged from clicking a photograph with their favourite star or a request to sign an autograph.
With fans sneaking through the porous and slim security cordon at Aspire Academy training pitches players had hard time.
With a huge chasing pack of fans the security people have been a hard time to keep the crowd at bay.
The fans had a field day for the last few days.
The players thus have been restoring to innovative ways to beat the fans to the game.
Some players were seen leaving the training ground on a golf cart leaving the fans disappointed.
But it is not just the local Qatar fans who have been in hot chase of the German players.
Around 30 fans from Austria and Germany are in Qatar for the winter training camp to get a closer look at the way their team trains.
The fans from Germany are having a ball of time soaking in sunny Qatar far away from the winter back home in German. The Bundesliga team loyal supporters have made the trip to Doha to come close to their favouritie stars.
“We paid 2000 Euros for the trip to Qatar which also covers our airline tickets and hotel stay. We have been to different parts of Qatar and want to see more of the country in the coming days. We hail from Austria and it is here in the winter camp that we got a chance to get close to some players,” said David Fichtinger from Austria, a student of Urban Planning.
He is one of the three fans from Austria, Philip Atzler and Peter Payer, the other two Austrians.
The oldest among the trio is Payer, a retired golf player, who is above 60 years, while Atzler is the odd one staying at Grand Heritage, the team base of Bayern Munich, as he is a Schakle fan.
“It is fun staying in the rival camp,” said Atler.
And age did not seem to be a barrier for fans. Even, sixty year olds and ladies were some of the eager fans who waited for their time in the sun. And having found their way to come close to the stars was one of their ‘magical moments of their life’ for them.
The Peninsula
