Hamburg fans stay eternally loyal with soccer cemetery

Loyal football fans, it is said, stay true to their teams until the day they die.

Now supporters of a German football club are the latest to be invited to extend their loyalty further with the opening of a cemetery reserved just for them.

Hamburg HSV has opened a specially designated cemetery within earshot of its Nordbank arena where fans can be buried in club colours on a football stand-shaped lawn reached via a goal-shaped entrance.

Club organisers say the €100,000 (£80,000) scheme, financed by the supporters' club and sponsors, is open to all fans, regardless of age and offers burial contracts of €2,500 payable over 25 years.

The idea for the cemetery, which can take up to 500 graves, came after repeated requests from fans wanting to have their ashes strewn on the pitch of the Bundesliga club, or like Everton fans, buried beneath the penalty spot.

I’ve a mate or two who are Celtic fans who would love to go out in this style.