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Eintracht Frankfurt and Urawa Red Diamonds officially sealed their new partnership at the Reds’ stadium – with a Japanese ritual.
After all those involved had expressed their greetings and answered the journalists’ questions, the organisers pushed a rice wine barrel in front of the guests and pressed a hammer into their hands. With a simultaneous blow on the wooden barrel, a tradition in Japan, the partnership between Eintracht Frankfurt and Urawa Red Diamonds was figuratively sealed – after the official announcement had already been published last week.
Urawa Reds goalkeeper Shusaku Nishikawa and Makoto Hasebe took two shirts out of the barrel – one from Eintracht with the number 20 and one from the Reds with the number 22 – and held them up to the cameras. On Wednesday, the two teams meet as part of the Saitama City Cup at 19:30 local time (11:30 CET) at the Saitama Stadium 2002.
Before the small ceremony, Yoichi Tachibana (Urawa president), Nishikawa as well as Samy Hamama (head of international relations and sports projects), Markus Krösche (board member for sport) and Hasebe from Eintracht all addressed the assembled journalists.
Tachibana emphasised that football had helped to build a “bridge between Germany and Japan”. Just the right cue for Hamama, who presented “Building Bridges” as Eintracht’s international motto. “We are very happy to be able to take the partnership to a new level. We want to share knowledge, business and culture,” said Hamama.
Krösche took the same line and emphasised that both sides should benefit from each other. “There is always new input,” he said. “We want to keep an eye on the Japanese market and see how talents develop.” Nishikawa, 36, and Hasebe are pleased to see young players from Japan make it to Germany and are looking forward to them being able to show Germany what they can do on Wednesday. Hasebe added: “Urawa Red Diamonds are my home club, I lived here for six years. I have been with Eintracht for nine years. I’m happy that both clubs are now partners. It’s a win-win situation for both.”
