Metal band Iron Maiden are in Dortmund to play two concerts. Between the performances, the British band’s tour team competed against the Borussia Dortmund veterans team on Wednesday.

There were a few outfit choices that aren’t often seen in the audience for BVB games: instead of Black and Yellow patches, some fans had “Iron Maiden” written on their tops. Bass player Steve Harris, a big fan of West Ham United, assembled Iron Maiden FC from members of the tour team and leads out the amateur side as captain whenever and wherever possible during the tour. Steve and his lads have already played in Eindhoven, Prague or Barcelona – and have almost always been on the winning side. “It’s great that we can play on such a great pitch,” said the bassist when he saw the youth stadium at the training grounds of Borussia Dortmund. When the band asked if BVB might be interested in a friendly match, the response from the Black and Yellows was highly enthusiastic, and the BVB veterans team turned up with a huge squad to take on the Brits, who only had twelve men available to start with.

On the side of the pitch stood an enthusiastic Lars Ricken. The previous evening, he had been to watch the band’s concert in the Westfalenhalle: “The performance they put in on stage yesterday was already extremely remarkable. The hall was electric. The fans were wrapped up in it right down to the last row. It’s great to have them here now. Let’s see if they can not only sing and play guitar, but can also play football.”

The director of the Youth Performance Centre did not take part, but even without his help, the BVB squad, coached by Edwin Boekamp and Günter Kutowski, comfortably beat the guests 9-4 (4-1). The game had to be interrupted briefly when a thunderstorm broke out over Dortmund in the first half, but the claps of thunder from above will have hardly intimidated the Brits. At their concerts, they sometimes play as loudly as a jumbo jet. After the game, however, Steve Harris was somewhat quieter: “The game was pretty one-sided. We only had twelve players with us this time. And then one of them got injured. That was really difficult.” Yet Harris didn’t seem tired even after the 90 minutes he had played. After all, he had to save enough energy for the evening performance in the Westfalenhalle.