American Reacts to Football Fans & Atmosphere USA vs. Europe

These are the 'fun' fans. Wait till you find out about the 'ultras'.

My feeling is, in the US, sports are entertainment. In Europe it is passion. But I'm from Europe so maybe I'm wrong.

In the US, sports are family events. You bring your family, get some hot dogs, and enjoy the show. A Disneyland basically. In Europe, you put on your armor, say goodbye to your loved ones, and tell your fellow warriors that if you should fall to tell your sons that you died with honor.

Football is deeply rooted within the social fabric of many countries, which is why you often find clubs associated with class struggles, many of the so called working class clubs are still very much proud of that history like Schalke in Germany, who still connect strongly to mining workers culture. Or you have clubs like Liverpool, where the fans celebrated the passing of the famous conservative Thatcher singing "the witch is dead" and stuff. You have Clubs like Celtic, once formed to support the starving poor in Glasgow and many other stories that have little to nothing to do with the sport itself, it just happened to be football that was popular with the people at those times. could have easily been any other team sport but the fact, that all you need is a ball to play it, surely made it easy.

For those wondering here the translations of the German chants: - BVB 09 (4:54): Borussia Dortmund, black and yellow is my club. Whether it’s the fight against relegation or for trophies, Borussia Dortmund, singing for you so you may win, because there is nothing more beautiful in the world for me and my friends. - 1. FC Köln (5:28) Regardless of what may happen the red wall stands behind you, does not move from your side, because it’s only here for you. Oh FC Kölle. A whole life for the club. - Eintracht Frankfurt (6:17, 9:41) Hey Eintracht Frankfurt Shalalalala lalalala (This is sung to the melody of the TV series „Pippi Longstocking“ based on the works of Astrid Lindgren, at the end of the second time „Louder“ is shouted) And as a bonus the one Dutch chant: Ajax Amsterdam (9:57): 90 minutes long, for our club from Amsterdam, madhouse on the tribunes, nobody can stop us.

The floor has to built to be able to move, otherwise it would break. Like skyscrapers are built to be able to move in the wind... Ajax is not Greece, that's Netherlands, Ajax Amsterdam.

Maybe it’s me but the UK can descend into a chant on any topic and they can be funny depending on the occasion.

5:30 that’s the fans of Cologne. I live about two miles from the stadium as the crow flies, and I can hear the chanting from my apartment when my window is open on match days. And there are a number of busy streets and a substantial forest between my place and the stadium.

Football has a deeper history in Europe and the rest of the world. It's special when there's 4,000 singing a song. I've started songs that 30,000 people have ended up singing. It sends a shiver down your spine and you sit there thinking that I started it.

Reminds me of the Terry Pratchett novel “Unseen Academicals” where he describes ‘the crowd’ in football as an almost sentient being; a beast made up of thousands passionate souls. I’m not into sports at all, but even I have a deep respect for that kind of collective passion and the sheer force behind that 😌

I played kettle drums for years with the ultras in the 90s, I was so young all the bigger older guys were so amazing I went with the group everywhere up and down the country, by train, ferry, vans and cars, they were like an extension of my family. My father was thrilled, he brought me to the first game when I was 5 and when I was born he made an announced at the stadium loudspeaker, "another supporter was born today" 😂

As an Eintracht Frankfurt fan I am sooo proud to see the ultras twice in this video. When we won the europacup the fans gone crazy.

The U.S. have FANS at a soccer game ?!?! Who was expecting that! ^-^ Respect!

Don't worry about the European football stadiums, the designers know the fans and build everything so that the buildings can withstand it. XD

the text on the banner the romanian fans are holding up at the end of the vid can be translated to: “we were all roman regiments: moldova, wallachia, transylvania”. imagine being a football player and stepping onto the pitch reading that…. it’d probably make you feel like the game was a significant moment in national history, and not just a football game…

Football, especially in Europe, has become the way in which people (especially men) vent their aggression and feelings of rivalry with others. For centuries those aggressions have turned into national rivalries and wars. Football seems like a "safe" way of venting those base feelings. It gets even crazier in world cups and euro cups where patriotism adds to this, but again, football is their way of dealing with local and national rivalries without anyone getting hurt (mostly).

Nobody in Europe, would even take the title of this video seriously 😂

in case you were wondering about the countries: 4:52 dortmund (germany), 5:28 cologne (germany), 6:17 frankfurt (germany), 7:26 northern ireland (ireland), 8:03 milan (italy), 8:06 marseille (france), 8:57 iceland (iceland), 9:18 thessaloniki (greece), 9:40 frankfurt (germany), 9:57 amsterdam (netherlands), 11:06 malmö (sweden), 11:57 paris (france), 12:28 romania (romania)

As a german I dare say american fans are more cute than ….ambitious ! No offense !

Catharsis is the word that comes to mind. When you have had a shit week in a not very stimulating job it can feel amazing to be part of a big group bellowing your lungs out until you are hoarse. If you win so much the better as you can completely justify the celebratory pints and consequent hang-over that you were going to get anyway. Good stuff