Frankfurt give Sir Alex Ferguson lifetime membership

Frankfurt visited Ferguson after their 2023/24 UEFA Europa Conference League meeting with Aberdeen in December. As well as a lifetime membership, the Eagles presented him with an Eintacht shirt bearing his name and the No.10.

Ferguson, now 82, lined up against Frankfurt as a player, scoring a hat-trick for Rangers in a pre-season friendly in 1967. As a manager, his Aberdeen team suffered a 2-1 defeat to Eintracht in the 1979/80 UEFA Cup, before he went on to enjoy unprecedented success in charge of Manchester United, winning 38 major trophies.

The decorated Scotsman - who retired from football in 2013 - didn't have the chance to face Frankfurt during his managerial heyday, but did oversee a famous victory over Bayern Munich in the 1998/99 UEFA Champions League final. Trailing to an early Mario Basler goal, the Red Devils struck twice in injury time through Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjær to claim their first European Cup title since 1968.

"Eintracht's most successful period was during my time at Aberdeen in the 70s and 80s, when they won the UEFA Cup in 1980," Ferguson recalled in an interview with the club's official website. "They beat Barcelona more recently, right? I saw that. And the [2021/22 UEFA Europa League] final against Rangers was fanastic. I always hope the underdog wins. Bayern fans might see it differently, but like all neutral fans in Germany, I really hope that someone else wins the league again."

That looks set to happen in 2023/24, with Xabi Alonso's Bayer Leverkusen 10 points clear of 11-in-row defending champions Bayern, with eight rounds of fixtures remaining. For their part, Dino Toppmöller's Frankfurt are sixth and on course for a return to the Europa League they won in 2021/22 after beating Rangers on penalties in Seville.