"It's packed at Buckingham Palace in the UK capital this morning. Tourists jostle in front of the official residence of the king in search of the best photo opportunity. Amongst them: Bavarian red and white, FC Bayern jerseys and fan scarves - a group from the Red Wood Cats fan club take photos and stroll along the majestic forecourt of the palace. In the evening, FC Bayern will play Arsenal in north London."
"Whenever they get tickets, they set off from Nördlingen, Gerd Müller's home town, into the football world. Sometimes they travel all night in a coach with 80 fans and return home straight after the final whistle. Sometimes, like on this November day in London, they take a plane with 14 people from Munich or Nuremberg to the city of FC Bayern's next Champions League opponents for a few days. "Why do we do it?" asks Cornelia Beck, almost incredulously: "Because it's love.""
"It was their love of football and FC Bayern that brought them all together when the idea of founding a fan club was born on a fun evening in the summer of 2009. There were 60 of them watching football in the village's fire station, nicknamed ' Die Holzkatzen ' (The Wooden Cats), and the Red Wood Cats now have around 1,500 members of all ages, "from big to small", as Erhard proudly notes."
FC Bayern supporters travel from across the world to attend away matches, often enduring long distances, snow and cold to support their team. A group called the Red Wood Cats visits cities such as Barcelona, Madrid, Milan, Naples, Rome, Glasgow, Turin, Istanbul and Manchester, and recently gathered at Buckingham Palace before a match in London. Fans depart from Nördlingen, sometimes traveling overnight by coach with 80 people or flying in small groups for several days. The Red Wood Cats began after 60 fans watched football together in 2009 and now have about 1,500 members of all ages, motivated by love for the club.
Read at FC Bayern
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