{"id":1058316,"date":"2026-06-29T21:58:42","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T21:58:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1058316\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T21:58:42","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T21:58:42","slug":"a-lifelong-dream-germany-v-cote-divoire-through-the-eyes-of-a-canadian-supporter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1058316\/","title":{"rendered":"A lifelong dream \u2013 Germany v C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire through the eyes of a Canadian supporter"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a boisterous sea of white marched towards the Toronto Stadium, flags waved violently while chants of \u201cSuper Deutschland\u201d\u00a0 echoed from front to back.<\/p>\n

German football fans had travelled from across the world to witness Die Mannschaft in the World Cup, and the moment had arrived.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some brought flags and smoke bombs to support the squad; others donned Rudi V\u00f6ller and Franz Beckenbauer wigs \u2013 but Glenn Kremp was carrying something different: his family legacy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As the German-Canadian walked unassumingly through the crowd, proudly sporting his FC Schalke 04 scarf and chatting about the club to anyone willing to lend an ear, he moved closer to a full-circle moment that was 40 years in the making.<\/p>\n

\"\"Kremp amidst the German supporters\u2019 march to Toronto Stadium.<\/p>\n

Kremp\u2019s football fandom began with a roar.<\/p>\n

During his first trip to his grandparents\u2019 hometown of Gelsenkirchen in 1987, a teenage Kremp visited his aunt\u2019s house. From her window, Kremp could see the tall, blue light fixtures overlooking Schalke\u2019s former ground, the Parkstadion. And luckily for him, the team was playing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kremp wasn\u2019t overly interested in the sport, but, perched on his aunt\u2019s balcony, he was about to be thrown into a lifelong journey.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Reiner Edelmann put Die Knappen ahead, and most of the 17,500 in attendance shrieked in ecstasy. But, as was common in the 80s, there was a massive tape delay. In broken German, an amazed Kremp asked his grandfather what the noise was, and he pointed at the stadium.<\/p>\n

\u201cStill to this day, it\u2019s something I\u2019ve never experienced in my life,\u201d he said, showing the goosebumps forming on his arm.<\/p>\n

Schalke went on to score four more times, with a roar following each goal, and Kremp was left in awe.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s where I tried to understand, especially as a young teenager back then, \u2018what is this?\u2019 And then really getting involved with it a lot more,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The youngster became obsessed once he was back in Canada, devouring months-old Schalke and Germany games on converted VHS tapes in his grandparents\u2019 basement. And that obsession only grew.<\/p>\n

He dyed his hair the day after Bastian Schweinsteiger debuted his bleached look at the 2004 European Championships, began collecting kits, and brushed up on his German.<\/p>\n

\"\"Kremp (middle) and his family inside Schalke\u2019s Veltins-Arena.<\/p>\n

Kremp took his love for the club online in the 2010s. It was all fun and games, but when his grandfather \u2013 who introduced him to the game \u2013 passed away in 2014, a chance encounter caused him to create a meaningful community.<\/p>\n

He and a friend travelled to Florida in early 2016 for Schalke\u2019s winter training camp and were astonished by the number of Canadians in attendance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Canadians in Florida outnumbered the Americans there to support Schalke,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201c[We] said, \u201cOkay, we\u2019ll make it a dedicated [fan club]. So officially we built it, we\u2019ve had our meetings online, and I\u2019m the president of it\u2026 We\u2019ve gone across Canada with it, which is really neat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Where club football divides people in Germany, it unites them in Canada. As part of the German diaspora, the sport has the power to bring people closer to the culture they come from.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody gets together,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been able to go to different clubs, being our club and fully accepted by everybody,\u201d said Kremp.<\/p>\n

Nowhere was that unity and sense of community more evident than in the lead-up to Germany\u2019s second-ever match on Canadian soil.<\/p>\n

S\u00fcdkurve Toronto, the city\u2019s Bayern Munich fan club, became the de facto German supporters group as thousands came to Toronto from across the globe.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For their 7-1 thrashing of Cura\u00e7ao, Schalke fans celebrated with the likes of Bayern, Stuttgart, and St. Pauli supporters in a downtown pub serving schnitzel, pretzels and Stein\u2019s of Weissbier for the occasion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"German supporters beginning their march in Toronto.<\/p>\n

Kremp said the food wasn\u2019t like his grandmother\u2019s, but he enjoyed the German atmosphere \u2013 it reminded him of his late family. And the day before Die Mannschaft took on C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire in Toronto, he began to reflect again.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI really feel like I\u2019m carrying the legacy of my family with me to see this,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMy Opa will be with me; decades of memories go in, my family from Germany, my aunts and uncles and stuff like that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s just very much gonna hit. I may just go back to everything that has happened in my life through football\u2026 sitting in the basement, just watching our Schalke games. Or when [me and] my Opa got to celebrate the [1990] World Cup [victory].\u201d<\/p>\n

The next day, Kremp\u2019s prediction was spot on.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He was buzzing ahead of the march, waving that Schalke scarf and joking that even alcohol couldn\u2019t elevate his mood. He met Canadian Schalke fans, passed out hats and stickers, took pictures, and chatted with Germans who were in disbelief that the club\u2019s supporters existed.<\/p>\n

Once he arrived at the stadium, a random run-in with visitors from Gelsenkirchen meant he was able to put his Schalke Canada flag in the German supporters section.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"A Schalke Canada flag was among those on display in the Toronto Stadium<\/p>\n

Then came the anthem.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kremp thought about his late grandfather and grandmother, who passed away in January.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe emotions hit, and it [tears] came down. I felt good, but I felt embarrassed, and my friend James, who came with me, just put his arm around me and goes, \u2018I get it, man, don\u2019t worry, buddy,\u2019\u201d said Kremp with a raspy voice after the match.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never kind of expected the emotions to really come at me as hard as they did, and kind of looked up and said, \u2018I\u2019m here for you guys.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

After Germany went behind early, Kremp expected a draw, but super-sub Deniz Undav\u2019s double gave Germany the win \u2013 and sent the stadium into a frenzy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI should say that was my first beer shower,\u201d Kremp, who stood the whole match, said. \u201cI don\u2019t even know where this beer was coming from\u2026But we\u2019re just enjoying it. It was crazy. \u00a0Just crazy, crazy scenes.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the match, Kremp stood on his seat and unfurled his Schalke flag as the team did a lap of the pitch. Manuel Neuer, the German no. 1 and former Schalke goalkeeper, pointed at the flag, put his thumbs up and then grabbed Leon Goretzka, who clapped in his direction.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMy first Schalke kit is a goalie Neuer kit, so for him to just grab Goretzka, and both of them to kind of point at me as I\u2019m holding up the Schalke scarf, that felt like, \u2018Okay, that was awesome,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"\"Kremp and his friend, James, at the match in Toronto.<\/p>\n

While he was intently focused on the match \u2013 especially the former Schalke players \u2013 Kremp couldn\u2019t help but let his mind wander, thinking about where it all began.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He remembered the roar from the Parkstadion, his summers in Gelsenkirchen, standing up for the German national anthem in his grandparents\u2019 basement (which he now makes his daughter do), and his grandfather taking a shot of Whiskey for every Germany goal.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo much of my life flashed by,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel maybe somebody was there, heard us cheering. And my voice obviously was a part of that, because it\u2019s gone now.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n