Neither from Barça, nor from Celta, nor from Dépor, nor, much less, from Real Madrid. Brais Teixeira from Ourense chose, years ago, to be from Borussia Dortmund. He watches all their games, reads the German sports press and translates the press conferences of those in black and yellow into Spanish. All this work is transferred day by day to an X account followed by more than 5,000 people. “At first, my friends told me that he was sick, people didn’t understand how he could be from Dortmund,” he tells FARO.
With the enthusiasm of a fan whose team will play in an entire Champions League final in a few hours, Brais Teixeira tells FARO how his love for Borussia Dortmund arose. He does it from his home in A Valenzá (Barbadás), his ‘operations center’ from where he ‘teleports’ every day to the intense atmosphere of German football. “One day, in 2009, I was reading a newspaper, I don’t know if it was Marca or As, and on its back page they published an article by Mario Götze in which it was said that he was going to be the next best player in the world.” That was the little seed that was going to bear fruit three years later. “In 2012, I remembered that page, little by little I became interested and began to comment on the news about Dortmund in X.”
After his success in the old bird’s network, in 2013 he was offered an adventure that still lasts: taking the reins of a well-known X account about the German team itself, @TodoBVB. It is through this digital window where, altruistically, He relates to Spanish-speaking people who, like him, carry in their hearts the shield of ‘die schwarz-gelben’ (those in black and yellow).
In his day-to-day life, he combines preparing for competitions and playing futsal with his passion for Dortmund. It was precisely his field of study that brought him closer to the German language, as if it were a sign: “I have C1 of German because I studied the Higher Cycle of Energy Efficiency and Solar Thermal Energy and in Germany it was very popular.” This knowledge of the language now allows him, for example, to “read the Bild – Germany’s newspaper -” and translate its news or transcribe press conferences for the almost 5,500 followers of @TodoBVB.
Contact with the present of the aurinegra squad has led him to live all kinds of experiences. One of the ones he remembers best is when he congratulated Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on his anniversary, while wearing the BVB jacket, who has his birthday on the same day as Brais, and the club itself sent him a congratulations back in X. On the other side , he does not forget that Ciro Immobile had blocked him on social networks after criticizing him in sports. Among his followers, he is especially fond of Marc Bartra, also with a past in the Ruhr team. “I have found out about signings before they appeared in all the media,” he details proudly.
His “thorn”: watching a match in the splendid Westfalenstadion
One of Borussia Dortmund’s strengths is its splendid stadium, the Westfalenstadion – also known as Signal Iduna Park, for sponsorship reasons -, which records attendance records throughout Europe. It also has what many football experts have called the “most famous stands” in the world. It is a high stand, located behind one of the goals, which rises into a single, imperial structure occupied by tens of thousands of fervent gorges. If it is already a draw for anyone, it is even more so for the young man from Ourense. “It’s a thorn in the side, I’ve always wanted to go see a game in person”, he expresses resignedly. The cost of the flights “is high,” he confesses, and, furthermore, each ticket amounts to “between 15 and 20 euros – very cheap -“, so “it is practically impossible to find tickets.”
A similar reason will prevent him from witnessing the Champions League final between his team and Real Madrid this Saturday at the London fiefdom of Wembley. Brais had seen the flights from Galicia to the British capital after Dortmund qualified: 80 euros. But, 24 hours later, the meringues did the same and The price of planes from Spain was already, never better said, through the roof, as they now cost 300 euros.
He will then watch the game from his native Ourense, dressed, of course, in the Borussia Dortmund jersey. Of the six shirts he owns, he has chosen the one from 1997 for the event, with which his team won the gold medal for the only time in their history.. He predicts, with his heart, a 3-2 with Marco Reus, his favorite, tipping the balance in the last minute of his last dance as a player in the German squad. “They become Champions”, he concludes, with the conviction of making up for the defeat 11 years ago in the final against Bayern Munich. A clear example of ‘echte liebe’ from more than 1,500 kilometers away.
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2024-06-01 04:25:40
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