Getting to know the counties and their people - for Edin Terzic, this is just as important as sporting success on the ASIA TOUR 2022. On Friday, he and four players visited two apartment blocks in Singapore's MacPherson district.

 

"I always think it's extremely important to get out into the world," says BVB coach Edin Terzic, adding: "Yesterday we went sightseeing and saw a lot of buildings, but there are always personal stories behind them. We want to learn about that too. Today was very impressive, very moving."

Terzic and the players Antonios Papadopoulos, Marko Pasalic, Can Özkan and Prince Aning, not to mention mascot EMMA, visited the MacPherson district on Saturday morning. This is far removed from the modern and shiny Singapore. Instead of an air-conditioned shopping mall, there is an open-air market, while outside the flat windows the laundry hangs to dry. On the street, the players are recognised as being part of BVB and are flooded with photograph requests; from the house opposite, a mobile phone is pulled out and the BVB group is filmed. Mascot EMMA is also very popular during the visit, especially with the local children, of course.

Supported by Lion City Sailors players, their CEO Chun-Liang Chew and Tin Pei Ling, the local member of parliament in Singapore, the players visited two blocks of flats where low-income families live. With them they carried bags of food such as noodles, bread and biscuits. Divided into two groups, they knocked on doors, handed out the bags and talked with the local residents.

“It was really impressive,’’ said Terzic afterwards, going on to add: “We’re really happy that we got to see not just the country, but also its people. It was really something to see all the people greet us so positively and respond to our presence, as well as that of EMMA, with such cheer and goodwill.”

The Lion City Sailors’ training ground is located in the MacPherson area. “We want to make a contribution to the community here” says CEO Chun-Liang Chew. “With Borussia Dortmund, we can work together to do some good for society. Football is more than just a game played over 90 minutes.”

Also on Friday morning, another football course was held with the coaches of the BVB Evonik Football Academy, attended by 40 children. Afterwards, BVB managing director Carsten Cramer handed over a donation cheque from the BVB foundation "leuchte auf" to FootballPlus, a partner organisation which is committed to helping socially disadvantaged children. The players Guille Bueno and Justin Njinmah were also there, and ended up signing so many autographs that not a single autograph card was left over at the end. (cr)