A grand total of 35,000 kilometres, 100 hours door to door, half of which are likely to be spent in airports or in the air – around €1000 in flight tickets – René Falkenhainer is sparing no expense to make sure he sees "his" Eintracht in Saturday's DFB Cup final against Bayern Munich in Berlin.
Adventure on hold
René has been in Australia since February, fulfilling a lifelong dream to spend time in Melbourne, Sydney and on the East Coast. "This country is full of nice people who are just as adventurous as me," he said. And if Eintracht qualify for Europe, he'll be heading back in time for the new season in August: "I'm not missing that!"
"SGE is my life"
Since Eintracht were last in the second tier of German football, under Armin Veh, René has been at every game possible. "SGE is my life," he explains, assuring us that he now wakes up in the middle of the night to watch Frankfurt on television in Australia. As soon as the Eagles beat Schalke to reach this year's DFB Cup final, René booked his flights and managed to secure a ticket for the game through being a season-ticket holder and club member. His good friend picked up the prized ticket from the stadium for him.
Six flights there and back
René has been in Berlin since Friday morning, having come via Abu Dhabi and Belgrade. He'll fly back Down Under at 06:55 on Sunday morning via Brussels and Abu Dhabi again. When he finally gets to Sydney on Monday evening (local time), he'll have travelled around 100 hours and almost 35,000 kilometres across six flights – all in the name of supporting Eintracht Frankfurt! And what of his beloved team's chances? "We're always capable of springing a surprise. If the players are as up for it as the fans are, we can do it!"
