Story highlights
Europe's largest free standing terrace houses 25,000 Dortmund fans
Borussia Dortmund is Europe's best attended club
More than 80,000 go to home matches
Dortmund is a city of 500,000 inhabitants
Welcome to the “Yellow Wall.”
Europe’s largest free standing terrace, where 25,000 of Borussia Dortmund fans congregate every other week for home games, has become one of the most intimidating sights for opposition teams – and a source of strength for the home team.
“Yeah, it’s crazy,” star striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang told CNN. “You just look up [at the wall] and you say, ‘wow, that’s amazing.’
“It’s 25,000 people only on one side, so of course you enjoy it.
“They know when we need some energy; they have a button so it’s perfect. But you feel it, you feel it.”
The west German city is home to 500,000 people and more than 14% of its population flood through the gates of the 81,359-capacity Signal Iduna Park every other weekend.
Borussia Dortmund is the best attended club in Europe with more than 80,000 at home games, attracting bigger crowds than other footballing giants such as Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Manchester United.
A stuttering season in the Bundesliga, with Dortmund currently in fourth place after Tuesday’s draw with Augsburg, has been interspersed with a more successful Champions League campaign.
After topping Group F ahead of Real Madrid and scoring a record-breaking 21 goals in the process, Dortmund will now welcome Portuguese side Benfica to Signal Iduna Park in the last 16.
