There’s likely to be a large Town contingent at Fortuna Düsseldorf’s final game of the season against Hansa Rostock with a coachload of Blues making a trip to Germany to meet up with some old friends. Fortuna fans have become a not infrequent sight at Portman Road over the years after bumping into some Town supporters on a pre-season tour.

Dave Loudnproud, who is organising the trip, told TWTD how the friendship started: “The Fortuna thing began when Joe Royle took Town on a pre-season jolly to Europe several seasons ago.

“A small group of us were sitting in the sun drinking a few local brews at some unmentionable market square bar in our Town shirts. We were approached by some Fortuna fans who asked us what we were doing there.

“We got invited to attend one of their games (they were in the German third division then) and we were treated like VIPs. I suggested that they perhaps should come to Portman Road and they have continued to do so every season after that, 50, 60 or 75 people at a time! They always raise money for a local Ipswich cause and they spend upwards of £2000 in merchandise every visit.

“Our goal is to get the two clubs together for a pre-season friendly, which very nearly happened in the Jim Magilton/Derek Bowden era.”

Town and Fortuna fans during a German visit to Suffolk

Dave outlined the details of the trip: “I have managed to secure a 48-seat coach and tickets will be served on a first come, first served basis. They are priced at £65 per person, which includes the ticket for the game.

“The coach will depart at 9pm on Saturday 8th May from the Drum and Monkey. The driver will stop off en route to Dover to collect any Essex or Kent-based supporters who may be interested in joining.

“Breakfast will be served by our hosts at the Irish pub in Hilden, then the tram, which is included, will take us directly to the 52,000-seat stadium. Fortuna are fighting for promotion to the Bundesliga this season.

“After the game we will be returning for beers to the Irish pub where our coach will start its return leg home after closing time.”

Send enquiries to Dave via DMRapid1@aol.co.uk or call him on 07976 773030.

Photo: Action Images

MaySixth added 10:21 - Feb 1 German football is quality.
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peakyboy added 10:26 - Feb 1 german beer is quality, thats the only reason they are going!
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itfc1981 added 10:30 - Feb 1 part of the Axel Bellinghausen deal?
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yarmoblue added 10:41 - Feb 1 nein nein , we need a number 9
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sirbenofmorlingshire added 10:58 - Feb 1 Cracking story, great PR for both clubs and glad to see that there is still some human/fun element in football when all the papers talk about is money, sacking, scandle etc... great effort for all those concerned!
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Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 11:12 - Feb 1 Great idea, but DAVE, you should have got our German friends over for the match against Boro: it's Foreign Supporters Clubs' Day, and 25 or so supporters from ITFC Sweden will hopefully be joined by supporters from other countries in our annual pilgrimage. We must coordinate and develop this! I must confess, I knew nothing about the Fortuna connection, but I'll certainly be keeping a lookout for their results from now on.

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NW10_Tractor added 11:39 - Feb 1 So who are our "buddy" teams in Other Countries? I know that Arras in France is twinned with Ipswich (only because when I played for Suffolk College a few years back we played in a tournament there) but they don't have a team. Any know our buddy teams??
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MyBlueHeaven added 12:14 - Feb 1 in bolivia it's The Strongest.
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MaySixth added 12:34 - Feb 1 Nemarket is twinned with Welshpool
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dusseldorf_blue added 12:40 - Feb 1 Beer and Football here is quality, what is even better is you can bring your beer to your seat. Living near Dusseldorf I have been to a couple of games this season. They were promoted last year to the second league and are now near the top pushing for promotion to the promised land of the Bundesliga. Also they are in a great new stadium!!!!
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MVBlue added 13:45 - Feb 1 Isn't there a Polish contingent that Support Ipswich (they had a website) and a Dutch contingent
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PablosRightBoot added 14:38 - Feb 1 Danny Baker paired us with East Fife. I'm going there next season. They are my new Scottish Team
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petermorris added 15:41 - Feb 1 Have any of the teams mentioned on this page got any players they want to offload? After watching that first half sh1te against Preston, I suddenly realised that some of ours are not that good.
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WeWereZombies added 13:35 - Feb 2 Obviously St. Etienne are our buddy club in France but they are doing rather better than we are these days. I was in Paris just before Christmas and meet up with three of their supporters but the only one who remembered the games with Town was as ancient as me.
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stiffshorts added 18:56 - Mar 18 Felixstowe is twinned with Wesel. Lots of visits and exchanges, can't be a bad thing to build bridges with our neighbours (except the scum of course!). Have a good trip.
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