Laureus World Sports Awards, Best Sporting Moment September nominees: When rivals become friends

Football fans are known to be among the most passionate in the world. This unadulterated passion often gives rise to some of the most memorable rivalries, be it the one between Barcelona and Real Madrid fans in Europe or Boca Juniors and River Plate supporters in South America. But in April, when three explosions occurred beside the Borussia Dortmund team bus ahead of their Champions League quarter-final with Monaco, fans of the German clubs set an example for supporters around the world by setting aside the tribalism that football fans are better known for and opening their houses to their “rivals”. [caption id=“attachment_4008163” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Monaco and Borussia Dortmund fans outside the stadium before the match. Reuters[/caption] The explosions forced the game to be postponed until the following evening and left many Monaco fans without a bed for the night. It was then that many Dortmund fans took to social media and used the hashtags #BedForAwayFans and #BedsForAwayFans to offer stranded Monaco fans a place to sleep for the night. The hashtags trended worldwide and generated over 16 million impressions in just 12 hours. The heartwarming moment is one of the nominees for September’s Laureus Best Sporting Moment. To vote for your favourite video, visit  myLaureus.com. Laureus World Sports Awards have been in existence for the last 17 years, with the first Laureus Awards held in 2000. Other than the Laureus Best Sporting Moment, Laureus announces its awards in eight different categories, some of them being: Laureus World Sportsman of the Year, Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year, Laureus World Team of the Year. Police later confirmed there were three explosions near the bus, breaking some of the vehicle’s windows. Defender Marc Bartra was injured by shards of glass and was taken to hospital. He underwent surgery on his injured arm to repair a fracture and remove shrapnel. The Spain defender took to Instagram to describe his emotions: “The pain, the panic and the uncertainty of not knowing what was going on, or how long it would last … were the longest and hardest 15 minutes of my life.”