Germany and England (Fußball), Solveig’s love of all things Football (soccer)!
Our family and friends well know that football (soccer) in our home was/is a massive big deal! Solveig was THE most hardcore fan I have ever met, whether it was the World Cup, UEFA, Premier League, FA Cup, Bundesliga, MLS… she was simply crazy about all of it! She was absolutely passionate and so proud of her home country team Germany! She also supported Arsenal (that made me super happy!), also teams in the Bundesliga and the Montreal Impact!
When her teams played, watch out…she was not messing about! To hear her shouting and screaming at the screen things like, ‘come on boys!’, ‘go, go, go!’, ‘ref, what are you doing!?!’, AND many things in German including, ‘Meine Güte!’ (‘my goodness’) and Tor!’, (‘score!’) . When her team scored it was simply magic to be around her, she was beyond jubilant! Solveig made watching football even more fun than it already was, it truly was amazing in our home and anywhere we watched! I have to say, that even though I am a loyal England supporter, I was absolutely thrilled her country won just to see her so excited and proud that they had gone all the way to victory – seeing Solveig happy and our girls happy, was, and is all I have ever cared about!
Deutscher Fussball-Bund
I have seen 7 world cup events with Solveig since ’94, but when Germany won in 2014 it was amazing to see her and our kids celebrate the win! Being from Britain and an England fan, and her being a hardcore German fan, we had this rule that both flags went up at the start of the world cup and whomever had their team knocked out first would have to take down their flag in front of the other… ‘all gloves were off’ 🙂
Solveig’s favourite football team!
Solveig loved her German squad so much: Götze, Kroos, Mertesacker, Müller, Klose, Özil, Schweinsteiger, Neuer, and all the rest of the entire team, she just loved those boys, and could be heard a mile away with her cheering and shouting! We still have the newspaper of their amazing world cup win framed on the wall here at home! We of course have all of Solveig’s official Germany team shirts and jackets and I remember when the additional star went on the Germany team logo for their win in 2014…her reaction when I bought her the new official team merchandise shirts and jacket as a surprise was truly epic! I held her jacket just the other day and I could feel her cheering in my heart!
At the following world cup, I will be rooting for Germany in honour of Solveig, and also England of course – and will continue to support her Bundesliga as she had done!
Both Germany and England’s flags still fly in our home as does Canada’s which we love dearly. Our daughters are so PROUD of their German/Austrian heritage from Solveig, and their English side from me. Many of the expressions, words and traditions used in our home are German as Solveig had taught us – and it will stay that way. Solveig told our girls all the places she had been to in Germany and we will visit there and England , so they can see first hand all their roots! (Btw. I will post shortly about the amazing holiday celebrations and the gorgeous ‘teller’ (German: plates) that Solveig would do and that we still do in our home!)
Our home will never be the same without my beautiful Solveig here, but I know she is with us and smiling down on me and our girls and is proud of us – we are hers and she is ours always in this world and in the next,
Solveig Keshavjee 
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