There are few football clubs with the global appeal of Liverpool. From Africa to Asia, South America to South Australia, there are vocal supporters, as passionate and faithful as those who live on Anfield Road.

The scale of LFC’s global fanbase has been made more apparent by the many pre-season tours of the last few years. This is now a truly modern club – perhaps the biggest in the world – connected to all corners of the Earth by the internet, by social media and fan forums.

On a Saturday afternoon, it is not just at Anfield where fans gather to watch their team, to sing You’ll Never Walk Alone and feel a part of something. It is in Ulaanbaatar, in Nova Scotia, in Kigali and in Buenos Aires too.

LFC Stories spoke to several fans from around the world on supporting the club from afar, and the inimitable appeal of Liverpool for people of all backgrounds.

Amarsaikhan Orso – Mongolia

I live in Ulaanbaatar – the capital city of Mongolia. I watched the 1982 FIFA World Cup in Spain on a black and white TV as an 11-year old boy, which is probably my earliest recollection of being drawn to football as a sport. Back then Mongolia was under a socialist regime; we had a single national and one other Russian channel. It was a lucky chance that the Russian team was participating that year, so I was able to watch multiple games broadcasted.

My father who worked for a political party read a lot of Russian newspapers, including Soviet Sport (now Sport Express) and Football & Hockey. I found out about Liverpool, which was dominating the fields of England and Europe, from the publications and was instantly a fan of players such as Ian Rush. After watching the FIFA World Cup in 1982, I decided to root for the team of England. Maybe I was drawn to their style since as a kid I liked to play as a winger and do header goals.

At the start of 2000, I started working as a brand manager to import the Carlsberg beer from Copenhagen, Denmark to Mongolia. Now everyone knows that Carlsberg was the main sponsor of our team at the time. I’d like to believe that at this point, I connected with Liverpool on a deeper level and it became a very special part of my life.

After the 2005 Istanbul final, Liverpool fans in Mongolia experienced a spike in numbers. During that time, social media platforms weren’t as prominent as they are now, so we used to gather on sports forums to discuss our opinions, predictions, and commitment to our club. This was a start of great friendships and companionships within the fan club. In 2009, a couple of fans decided to organise a meet up and proposed the idea of creating the fan club, which officially opened on 7 November 2010. I was chosen as the Head of the Fan club and I am still carrying the role to this day with pride.

Within the fan club, we have organised various games and events such as The Reds` League and Reds` Cup. It’s become a habit of ours to gather and watch the games together for the Champions League games. Over 1500 Kopites came together to watch on TV this year`s Champions League Final in Madrid. We have been included in multiple promotional videos of Liverpool FC and we are extremely happy about being a part of this global fan base.

Published Date:2019-10-14