Eintracht's Daichi Kamada is set to receive the Nobel Prize in Chemistry

It is common knowledge that football fans are willing to invest a lot for and in their favorite club. It's mostly about time. Sometimes for money too. Klaus-Michael Kühne and Dietmar Hopp show in Hamburg and Hoffenheim that patronage is still possible in 2023 above the state league.

But even the little fan is always called upon to help his club effectively. Fan bonds, for example, are a popular way for clubs to quickly generate fresh capital in difficult times. Often, however, the followers also pursue their own goals. Then initiatives are founded and money is pooled in order to be able to buy one or more players. Among sheikhs it can sometimes be about superstars in the category Cristiano Ronaldo, in amateur football it's more about the top scorer from the neighboring village. Both fan dreams have one thing in common: everything is possible.

In this respect, Eintracht Frankfurt can now also hope for the whereabouts of its extremely talented and sought-after offensive player Daichi Kamada. The contract of the 26-year-old Japanese, who is one of the top performers in Hessen, expires at the end of the season, and those responsible for the club around sports director Markus Krösche would like to extend the contract in the long term. However, the fact that no agreement has yet been reached suggests that the paths will probably separate in the summer after six years. But so far Benjamin List has not been involved in the negotiations.

The 55-year-old scientist, who was born in Frankfurt, is a big Eintracht fan and hopes to give his club new opportunities in poker. The officials have to take care of the finances themselves, but Eintracht may now have a priceless trump card to offer in further negotiations: the Nobel Prize.

List is willing to cede that to the national player should Kamada put his signature on the working paper. The director of the Max Planck Institute for Coal Research and David W.C. MacMillan from Princeton University. The two researchers were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2021 for their work on asymmetric catalysis.

"I'm a Japan fan. One of my favorite players is Hasebe. But Daichi Kamada – if he left, it would break my heart. Today I wanted to take the opportunity to put my medal in the balance. If he stays, I'll give it to him," said List on the sidelines of the round of 16 first leg in the Champions League against Italian leaders SSC Napoli on the broadcasting streaming service "Amazon Prime".

The Nobel Prize, football, chemistry, Kamada and Eintracht – what sounds like an interaction that is difficult to combine reveals parallels when you take a closer look. The discovery, for which List and his American colleague were honored, corresponds to the philosophy that a few years ago justified the soaring of the club, which had previously been in the middle for a long time: Everyone is important. With cohesion and as a functioning team, individually supposedly better staffed teams could be beaten. The rewards were the DFB Cup, the Uefa Cup and participation in the Champions League. The Nobel Prize winners List and MacMillan discovered that small organic molecules also mediate chemical reactions. So List knows that his initiative could well be successful.