Elversberg suffered a narrow 2-1 defeat at Borussia Dortmund on Matchday 9, but it will certainly be a memorable trip for the 8,000 travelling fans of the Saarland club, who had never played above the third rung of German football before 2023.

Having already endured trips to Borussia Mönchengladbach, Schalke, Union Berlin and RB Leipzig already this season, what makes the figure - a club record - even more impressive, is that the figure is 61 percent of the town's inhabitants.

“Hooray, the whole community is here,” beamed Elversberg head coach Vincent Wagner prior to their Signal Iduna Park trip.

Playing against Germany’s elite is certainly a moment that generations of Elversberg fans had dreamt of and although suffering a fourth league defeat in 2026/27, Noel Futkeu’s late bicycle kick - which halved the deficit after Felix Nmecha’s second-half brace - sent the travelling support into raptures, creating memories to last a lifetime.

Watch: Borussia Dortmund 2-1 Elversberg - highlights

Approximately a three-and-a-half hour, or 341km drive, upon the final whistle, Elversberg players and staff made their way over to the away block to thank their supporters, who still have trips to Bayern Munich’s Allianz Arena, Hamburg’s Volksparkstadion and Eintracht Frankfurt’s Deutsche Bank Park to look forward to.

Following in Elversberg’s footsteps with a large away following, newly promoted Schalke - playing in Germany’s top division after a three-year absence - are expected to bring 15,000 supporters to Hoffenheim’s SNP Arena on Sunday.