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Attending Football Abroad


Srg

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Last year or so, I have caught a bug of attending European football matches whilst on weekends away (mainly Stags) and it's really got me thinking of other great grounds to visit and games to see, and wondered if anyone had any stories of places they've been, how easy it was and what sort of prices they paid to do it?

If anyone is interested, I have been to the Olympic Stadium in Berlin to watch Hertha Berlin vs. SC Freiburg, Stadion An der Alten Försterei in Berlin to watch Union Berlin vs. Erzgebirge Aue, the National Football Stadium in Bratislava to watch Slovan Bratislava vs. FK Senica, the Allianz Stadion in Vienna to watch Rapid Wien vs. Mattersburg, Borussia-Park in Monchengladbach to watch Borussia Monchengladbach vs. Hertha Berlin and to the Merkur Spiel-Arena in Dusseldorf to see Fortuna Dusseldorf vs. Stuttgart - with the latter two this past weekend. I have plenty of pictures/stories/info if anyone is interested in attending these.

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Bought tickets on a whim at the bernabeu to see real v athletic bilbao. Real had Roberto Carlos, figo, Raul, hierro etc

Ko was 9pm on Saturday night. Which seemed to be regarded about the same as 3pm in our culture. 4-1 to real and a massive street parade afterwards. Great stuff.

 

Also been to st pauli. Very different but lots of fun for different reasons. Beer drinking in the crowd was expected...

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At the Olympico, 

Lazio v Calgiari, Lazio v Juve, Roma v Lazio, Roma v Fiorentina.

In Florence, Fiorentina v Sampdoria. 

All between 2008 - 2011. 

Prices behind the goals were roughly £20, the prices in the main stands £40 -£50. 

At that time you had to show your passport to get a ticket and into the ground. 

The atmosphere at the big games were brilliant, but not knowing what the songs were about was weird. 

Very few people drinking alcohol, most were on espresso's. In Florence I got a ticket for the Curva Fiesole, where the ultras stand, and there was a drinks kiosk selling bottles of Becks at €5 a pop. No Italians were buying any so I necked 3 in the space of 30 mins. 

I went up for a 4th and noticed the label was a funny colour. Becks blue, non alchohol........Not much wander I was getting funny glances......Idiot. 

 

 

 

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Went to loads of Italian games when RyanAir and EasyJet invented cheap travel. 

Juve, Palma,Roma,Lazio,Milan,Inter,Samp, Florentina, Udinese...best was Napoli.

when living in Switzerland we could easily get to any of the Swiss teams and also a few Frednch and German clubs....actually went to Kevin DeBruynes final game before he went to City  

 

 

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6 hours ago, Srg said:

Merkur Spiel-Arena in Dusseldorf to see Fortuna Dusseldorf vs. Stuttgart - with the latter two this past weekend. I have plenty of pictures/stories/info if anyone is interested in attending these.

How was it? We're off to see the Fortuna Dusseldorf vs Monchengladbach game at the end of March on a Staggy weekend. 

Not done much on the continent, went to St Pauli vs Dortmund B a few years back, that was tasty. Done a few Barca games, most notably vs Eibar and a certain Raul. 

Got mugged off by a ticket tout outside Napoli's ground in May too, didn't end up getting in for their last game of the season. Sounded awesome, massive shame. 

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Just now, Mr Tibbs said:

How was it? We're off to see the Fortuna Dusseldorf vs Monchengladbach game at the end of March on a Staggy weekend. 

Not done much on the continent, went to St Pauli vs Dortmund B a few years back, that was tasty. Done a few Barca games, most notably vs Eibar and a certain Raul. 

Got mugged off by a ticket tout outside Napoli's ground in May too, didn't end up getting in for their last game of the season. Sounded awesome, massive shame. 

Absolutely phenomenal at Fortuna. We had tickets in the standing section. Constant jumping around and singing. Fully recommend it. At the point where I’d go back to Düsseldorf just to go back there. 

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7 minutes ago, Srg said:

Absolutely phenomenal at Fortuna. We had tickets in the standing section. Constant jumping around and singing. Fully recommend it. At the point where I’d go back to Düsseldorf just to go back there. 

Decent. Hopefully that's where our tickets are then, I haven't checked. Couple of lads have been before and said they went when they were in the division below and it was still rocking so the atmosphere for a local derby in the league above should be class, really looking forward to it. 

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1 minute ago, Mr Tibbs said:

Decent. Hopefully that's where our tickets are then, I haven't checked. Couple of lads have been before and said they went when they were in the division below and it was still rocking so the atmosphere for a local derby in the league above should be class, really looking forward to it. 

They’re not their big rivals (believe it’s Schalke), but there was just under 41,000 there against Stuttgart. The away end was rocking too, despite the 3-0 slaughtering. 

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2 hours ago, Mr Tibbs said:

How was it? We're off to see the Fortuna Dusseldorf vs Monchengladbach game at the end of March on a Staggy weekend. 

Not done much on the continent, went to St Pauli vs Dortmund B a few years back, that was tasty. Done a few Barca games, most notably vs Eibar and a certain Raul. 

Got mugged off by a ticket tout outside Napoli's ground in May too, didn't end up getting in for their last game of the season. Sounded awesome, massive shame. 

I almost had a similar experience while living in Naples. Impulsively and with no prior research, I went down on the day of the game and hoped to find a ticket office near the stadium, but instead fans were actively directing me to touts rather than the nearest sales point.

It was Verona at home and one tout followed me down a side street trying to negotiate upwards of €70 for one ticket. I refused and left.

The policy at the San Paolo is that you must buy your ticket at licensed vendors and show ID both at the time of purchase and upon entering the ground. Your ticket has your name printed on it - so never say yes to a tout. You’ll never get in.

If you try again, remember that they sell their tickets through a third party - LISTICKET last time I checked - and there are vendors dotted around the city and the metropolitan area. You can find links through the official Napoli site.

Here’s an example: https://www.sscnapoli.it/shared/UserFiles/file/Modulistica/Abbonamento_stagione_15_16/ElencoRicevitorie.pdf

If you go to one of those a day before or even the morning of the game with your passport, you should have no issue. Napoli rarely sell out at home, unless it’s Juve.

Keep in mind that views in the lower bowl of the stadium tend to be poor because there is a running track around the pitch. The best seats in the upper bowl usually sell out first, particularly Curva B.

Also be mindful of the public transport system being very limited after 10pm if you go to a night game.

The San Paolo is very old and almost prehistoric compared to modern grounds in the UK. Pray for 90 minutes without a bowel movement, for example. That said, the atmosphere and charm is second to none and more than makes up for it.

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Having lived in three different countries in the last six years, it would be a crime not to show my face in this thread.

I went to a Champions League game between Zenit and Monaco circa 2014. It was at their old Petrovsky stadium. It was half full and the game was dour, but the atmosphere was excellent nonetheless. I went on my own and sat in the home end. I had no trouble. I can’t speak for their new stadium, but it looks well worth a visit.

More recently, I was a regular at the San Paolo last year during the final months of Napoli’s title challenge. By far, the most atmospheric stadium I’ve been to, also the least modern. If you are someone who enjoys going to overseas football matches, this should be top of your list.

Currently, I am in Porto, so I am making as many trips to the Dragão as I can. It is absolutely second to none as far as modern stadiums go.

The only trouble is that the club operate a membership priority scheme, so tickets can be either extortionate or impossible to acquire if you are looking to go to a Benfica, Sporting or major Champions League game without a membership card.

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Malmo v Athletico Madrid in Champions League 2014 I think. Athletico won 2-0 (?) but Malmo were unlucky not to get at least a point. Superb atmosphere throughout the stadium, particularly liked the fans in "Hodgson's Corner" next to the main Ultra section - those boys were loving life.  Roy made an appearance at half time and gave a speech in what sounded like good Swedish.

Copenhagen v Club Brugge at Parken in Europa League. Brugge won 5-0, brought about 3k fans and their support was mad. Copenhagen fans behind the goal never stopped chanting and were of the wear uniform black t-shirts in minus 5 degrees variety. We stood in their second most boisterous area on the side of the pitch and there was a very relaxed attitude towards smoking weed, drinking beer etc those guys were having a good time regardless of the score. Ended up reminiscing about Junior with one of them.

Lazio v Inter, Lazio needed to win their last two games to get into the Champions League. Went a man down after about 10 minutes, then a goal up, then another man down, then conceded two in the last 5 minutes. Mad game. We were right next to the Ultras and there was a crazily hostile atmosphere, bottles, flares, racist abuse the lot. Not a good idea to speak English very loudly in that stand. 

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Saw Hertha Berlin about 12 years ago, was bizarre to be in the Olympic Stadium in Berlin with all its history.

Went to watch Legia Warsaw and Polonia Warsaw games a lot when I lived there. Never seen an atmosphere like it. It was before Legia moved stadiums and was epic.

Watched Seattle Sounders back in the A-League days too

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Been to see Union Berlin as well - great place to watch a game.

Other matches ive been to incidentally rather than by plan are AS Varese v AC Milan preseason friendly, some FIFA U23 World Cup games in Istanbul and Bangalore FC in the Indian Super League.

Of course next season im sure we'll be in some Europa League games after our FA Cup triumph.

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