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This heart-warming story comes from Russia when a 102-year-old Spartak Moscow fan lost his entire life savings in a robbery and the club came to his rescue. Otto Fischer has been a fan of the club since his 20s and they repaid his loyalty by helping him out when he was left with nothing.
The robbery took place at his residence in Kopeisk, 1500 kilometres from Moscow, when a man pretending to be a social worker visited him. When Fischer went to get the man a glass of water, the man made off with 730,000 rubles (approximately $12,664). The money was saved for his great-granddaughter who lived in Ukraine.
Fischer became a popular figure when he made the trip to Moscow, with the help of Spartak’s fan club ‘The Red and Whites’, to watch a derby game against Dynamo Moscow earlier this month. Spartak had won the match 1-0.
Spartak Moscow and fan club collect $8,000 for Fischer
When the club heard the news, they immediately discussed it with their players who contributed money to help him out. The club also decided to give him a percentage of ticket sales when Spartak Moscow play Kuban Krasnodar in the Russian Premier League.
They also created an account for fans to contribute as much as they could to help one of their oldest fans.
Head of Spartak Moscow’s fan club Oleg Semyonov said: “We immediately called the person looking after Otto Fischer and asked him for his bank account number. Then we published it on various football fan sites, and supporters – not just of Spartak – were invited to take part.”
Fischer was overjoyed by the support he received and promised to make another trip to Moscow when he could to attend another match.
“I am very glad to get this help. I bow my head to everyone who helped me in this situation.
“If I get another opportunity to see another game, I certainly will with great pleasure.
“We have a saying: 'It is better to see something once than to hear about it one hundred times,'” – Otto Fischer
