Thirteen years after becoming an official Barcelona supporters’ club, the Peña Azulgrana Frankfurt, member of the FCB World Federation, is finally able to experience a visit by FC Barcelona’s men’s first team who will play against Eintracht Frankfurt, the local team. This is an historic event for this supporters’ club that brings together culers not only from Frankfurt itself, but also from other areas in central and western Germany.
This territorial pull is one of the characteristics that has shaped PB Frankfurt since its foundation, as its current president, Jesús Muñoz, explains: “The supporters’ club was born in 2009, when two groups of culers from the towns of Hofheim and Obertshausen (both in the outskirts of Frankfurt) wanted to create supporters’ clubs in their area. Ultimately, they decided to join forces and established Peña Azulgrana Frankfurt, which FC Barcelona made official that same year”. When it was established, it had around 60 members, but since then the number has more than doubled to 140 members today.
Cosmopolitan like its city
The initial idea of the PB Frankfurt founders was to unite all the culers from the city of Frankfurt and from the surrounding areas to experience the blaugrana passion together. And so it has. “Our supporters’ club has the same cosmopolitan spirit that characterises the city, which is one of the financial centres of Europe. It has members from many different nationalities, and its approach is to integrate culers from all surrounding areas; some of them, even a little far from Frankfurt,” says Jesús Muñoz.
So much so that, shortly after the supporters’ club was established, two branches of the Peña Azulgrana Frankfurt sprouted outside the federal state of Hesse, to which the city belongs. One is located 100 kilometres north, in Siegen, in the state of Westphalia; the other can be found 140 kilometres south, in Karlsruhe, in the state of Baden-Württemberg. The supporters’ club wanted to ensure that the FC Barcelona fans in these regions were united with a common front, whether they were local citizens or people of other nationalities living there. In any case, they are all culers to the core. This is expressed in the club’s motto: “Més que una penya, un sentiment”. (More than a penya, a feeling).
“Chasing” Barça around Europe
As it usually happens, the members of the supporters’ club get together to watch FC Barcelona matches. In addition, once a year they organise a trip to Barcelona to experience a live match at the Camp Nou. Also for the team’s European trips, the Peña Azulgrana Frankfurt rallies as much as possible: “When the team plays in Germany or nearby countries, we always try to attend. We have not only been to Berlin, Munich, Mönchengladbach, Dortmund, Leverkusen and Stuttgart, but also to Prague and other European cities. The largest endeavour was to attend the Champions League final in 2015 at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin,” recalls the president of the supporters’ club.
Moreover, members of the Peña Azulgrana Frankfurt have also travelled to Paris and Moscow to take part in supporters’ club gatherings at the European level. Jesús Muñoz points out that, in general, they maintain very good relations with the rest of the supporters’ clubs on the continent, especially those in Germany: “Among them all, there is a shared feeling of belonging to the ‘blaugrana family’”.
Committed to the city
Besides being a meeting point for FC Barcelona fans in Frankfurt and the surrounding areas, Peña Azulgrana Frankfurt also seeks to promote and showcase this blaugrana feeling through various activities. For example, every year the supporters’ club holds a general assembly meeting for its members in order to delineate the direction of the organisation.
The spirit of solidarity that the supporters’ club shows with its city is worth highlighting: PB Frankfurt promotes and favours charitable causes of all kinds. As its president explains, “among others, we have encouraged blood donations to benefit people with cancer. We also collaborate with the non-profit nursery 2SonMás, where we donate books and roses on Saint George’s Day”.
At a more recreational and cultural level and together with other supporters’ clubs, PB Frankfurt organises activities such as football tournaments as well as historical photographic exhibits regarding FC Barcelona. It also organised a reading night with writer Ronald Reng, author of the biography of former goalkeeper Robert Enke. In addition, Peña Azulgrana Frankfurt has an online shop with products that allow its members to show off their supporters’ club logo.
