Football Tourism / Ground Hopping

I haven’t been abroad for reasons other than a wedding/other specific event for basically the entire millennium, so having got back into football I’m now trying to use it as an excuse to actually go places.

I’m planning on going to Milan next month to watch them play Fiorentina - I was originally going to go for two weeks & catch Fiorentina v Atalanta the week before, but 10 days of accommodation makes it quite expensive. I’d already told my Mum about it though & she’s always wanted to go to Florence so she’s coming along & we’ll do a few days in Milan & a few in Florence anyway.

I’ve also got a Pompey season ticket now, so my mate & I have been to a few away games - we were hoping to do Luton today but unsurprisingly it sold out before our window. That’s got us thinking about other UK grounds we’d like to visit, so I’ve now got a list of domestic ones to work through as well.

So yeah, any ground hoppers among us? Which stadiums do you want to go to at some point? Any tips for travel, recommendations for cool or interesting teams/stadiums to visit etc?

I went to loads of German football in the 2012-18 period but nothing there since. Other than that I’ve chalked off about 40-50 grounds with Middlesbrough over the years.

San Siro is the one I'd love to see before they probably knock it down. I've been to an Ajax game about 10 years ago, they had some tourist deal so it's a cheap ticket, programme and scarf but you're right up in the top of the steepest stand I've ever been in.

I like to collect them over a lifetime, but I don't go to Chelsea much anymore so it's a bit slower.

Abroad the ones I am pleased to have done are Sevilla (which is a big fascist box) and the old Munich Olympiastadion, which is an absolutely terrible place to watch football but is so atmospheric and redolent of all things 20th century that it was well worth it.

Seen San Siro from the outside, good if you're a fan of concrete. The one I'm most pleased to have seen (also from the outside) is the Centenario in Montevideo.

Most obscure one, probably Jorge Wilstermann, I'm not even going to bore you with where that is but if you ever see it on an FM save then know that I've been there. Polonia Warsaw as well. Loved that.

One away I was looking forward to this season was the Oxford game going on now, was all set to go until they moved it to lunchtime. Beautiful sunny day, one goal just has a car park behind it, marvellous.

Im sure i was keeping trackin at some point of all the grounds TTH have visited over the years. The signature is just the location of where we are at./

It'll come as a shock to nobody but St. James' Park is the only one I've chalked off. I've seen plenty of stadium exteriors in the flesh but not entered them.

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Originally Posted by wullie

San Siro is the one I'd love to see before they probably knock it down. I've been to an Ajax game about 10 years ago, they had some tourist deal so it's a cheap ticket, programme and scarf but you're right up in the top of the steepest stand I've ever been in.

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Yeah, San Siro potentially going was a big part of why I’m going now. Similar reasons for looking at Luton, although it looks like I might have dodged a bullet there.

Ajax is another one that would be on the list & comes with a decent holiday on the side.

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Originally Posted by Shindig

It'll come as a shock to nobody but St. James' Park is the only one I've chalked off. I've seen plenty of stadium exteriors in the flesh but not entered them.

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I stopped at St James’ when I did a road trip up to Elgin with some friends about 15 years ago. Looks massive just plonked in the city so it’s definitely one on the domestic list.

We did Sunderland & Middlesbrough this season as we know someone who lives up there so it might be quite an easy one to tick off, although I imagine getting a ticket might be the hard part.

Not really actively doing ground hopping but the last few years I've been to a few random ones in Germany like Mainz (a few weeks back), Duisburg (with the GROUP) and FSV Frankfurt. The euros was a good one to get Schalke in. Otherwise, I hope to get around and see some more Scottish football stadiums.

Edit: I've done loads in England over the years following United plus a few good ones in the Europa.

I went to the superior St James Park this afternoon with my nephews to witness what three separate people described as the worst game of football they've seen all season. 1-1 against Northampton.

Did the San Siro for a dead rubber between Milan and Zenit, obviously Holker Street (Barrow) and the Emirates, Old Trafford, Deepdale, Wembley, the Riverside, Brunton Park (Carlisle), not sure if the Lancashire FA counts but I live right next to it and wander in now and again since you can drink pitchside :cool:

A guy I used to work with followed Leeds home and away and had nearly 500, last time I checked he was a couple off having the entire football league ticked off (even took a day off work to go and tick off Forest Green when they had a pre-season friendly there).

You haven't lived until you've done the Carlisle Grounds on a January evening.

I've been to Brunton Park, and all I can say is that I admire Mark Hughes for taking the job there at this stage of hls career.

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Originally Posted by Lofty

Did the San Siro for a dead rubber between Milan and Zenit, obviously Holker Street (Barrow) and the Emirates, Old Trafford, Deepdale, Wembley, the Riverside, Brunton Park (Carlisle), not sure if the Lancashire FA counts but I live right next to it and wander in now and again since you can drink pitchside :cool:

A guy I used to work with followed Leeds home and away and had nearly 500, last time I checked he was a couple off having the entire football league ticked off (even took a day off work to go and tick off Forest Green when they had a pre-season friendly there).

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Any tips for San Siro/things to do in Milan? Tickets seem like they should be okay since they hate the owners - looked like there were still some left for Lazio when I checked yesterday.

The Duomo is the obvious thing to see. From what I remember of the San Siro, it's impossible to get anything at half time but there are people walking about selling snacks intermittently if you're desperate.

Outside the UK I've been to a couple of games abroad with my Arsenal supporting mates (San Siro for Inter 1 - Arsenal 5, saw Jeremy Beadle in the Duomo :D) and Valencia.

I've also watched a few in Germany (as Kiko mentions above). We also saw England in Frankfurt.

I watched the Women's Olympics Bronze medal match in the summer in Lyon (Spain vs. Germany).

Also watched a load of random games in The Netherlands (Ajax, Feyenoord, Breda, Telstar)

Done a few trips here with "the lads" following the perennially shite Ho Chi Minh City FC. Local games are pretty much the same (albeit they all involve 1hr-2hr flights or 3hr-4hr drives), overseas Buriram in Thailand was amazing (great little town/awesome old castles/decent stadium), whilst a few weeks later a trip to Singapore was as dull as expected.

Got back from Milan a couple of hours ago. Lucked out with the game as it finished Milan 2-2 Fiorentina. Milan started slow & went two down in 10mins only to claw their way back, largely thanks to the contributions of Luka Jovic, who used to play for Fiorentina. Draw was probably a fair result, although Fiorentina did have two goals chalked off, including one at the death, and Mike Maignan had to make a couple of good saves too.

Had a great view from my seat as well (front row in the third tier in Curva Nord, with the Fiorentina fans not far behind us), although the infrastructure around the stadium is terrible - when we came out there was no signage to indicate where the transport links were, and when we did find the metro station there was a 45min wait to get in. It's also out on the edge of the network at the end of a bunch of houses, so I can definitely see why Milan & Inter would want to move.

Went into Milan the day after & ended up grabbing a 1996 home Milan kit & a current Inter home kit from the club shops around the Duomo/Castello Sforzesco area. I'd definitely recommend going that way & checking out the fucking enormous park the castle sits on the edge of. We also did Como yesterday so I popped round to the stadium, which is next door to the aero cub & over the road from the yacht club, because rich people. Unfortunately, half of the town seems to be shut on a Monday for some reason, so there were a few things we couldn't do, but a lake & some mountains was still a welcome break from the cities.

We did Florence for a few days before going to Milan too - didn't get the chance to visit the Artemio Franchi, but had a nice time exploring all the gardens & old buildings. I'll try to get to a game there at some point, but not sure there will be a whole lot left for me to do so a weekend trip would probably be fine.