Why do Borussia Dortmund sing 'You'll Never Walk Alone'?

Having Jurgen Klopp as manager isn't the only thing shared by Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund.

Though 'You'll Never Walk Alone' has long been synonymous with Reds supporters, played at Anfield before every home game, it's also a club anthem for German side Dortmund.

Goal has what you need to know about why Dortmund sing 'You'll Never Walk Alone' and more.

Why do Dortmund sing 'You'll Never Walk Alone'?

Though Liverpool fans' relationship with the song stems from local band Gerry and the Pacemakers covering the original version (originally by Rogers & Hammerstein) back in the 1960s, Dortmund's connection only arose in the mid-'90s.

Dortmund band Pur Harmony were asked to cover the song in 1996, and the band adhered to the request. Though singer Matthias Kartner had doubts about covering a song so closely tied to Liverpool, the group did so anyway.

"A good friend of ours told us 'you have to make a recording of 'You'll Never Walk Alone'. I thought 'oh no!'" Kartner told the Liverpool official website.

"It's a nice song but it was difficult to make it because of the harmony of the music. It's hard to sing because at first you go very deep and then you go high.

"But a week later we made this recording."

The band, who are all Dortmund fans, had already covered 'Go West' for the club that was already popular, with 50,000 copies of the recording sold.

"We are Dortmund boys and big Borussia fans, so I gave the recording of 'You'll Never Walk Alone' to our stadium speaker and he took this and said 'very nice, we'll try this'."

Since then, the song has been regularly adopted by the Yellow Wall and is sung regularly on matchday.

But Kartner is keen to still credit Liverpool, and the Reds supporters' close connection to the song.

"They [the supporters] knew it from Liverpool," Kartner continued.

"But now since Pur Harmony recorded it, the people liked it from the beginning and it was fantastic for us.

"Norbert Dickel [Dortmund's stadium announcer] tried to use Gerry and the Pacemakers' version but the fans liked our song [better].

"For me and many other Dortmund fans, my favourite club in England is Liverpool. The mentality is just like ours here in Dortmund."

Indeed, when Dortmund traveled to Anfield to face off against Liverpool in the Europa League quarter-final in 2016, the two sets of supporters combined to create one of the most memorable renditions of the anthemic classic.

You can watch the video below.

What other clubs sing 'You'll Never Walk Alone'?

Though it was Liverpool who first associated themselves with the song, a number of other clubs in Europe and beyond other than Dortmund have claimed it as well.

Celtic fans sing the anthem prior to every European home tie after a 1966 Cup Winners' Cup semi-final against Liverpool at Anfield.

The fans of Dutch side FC Twente sing it before each home game, while Feyenoord and SC Cambuur also join in the tradition.

Mainz, Club Brugge and FC Tokyo have also been known to play the song from time to time.