Football trip to Madrid
The capital of Spain is a beautiful city, where especially the architecture and sights attract tourists from all over the world. This is also an Eldorado for those who want to combine a city break with football matches.
In Madrid you will also find a very good nightlife, good restaurants, and top shopping opportunities, which makes it a perfect destination for weekend trips with friends. It is normally both easy and affordable to get from Oslo to Madrid. As of today, there are two airlines that have direct routes, and the prices are usually very low.
Clubs in La Liga for 2019:
- Real Madrid– Real Madrid is Spain’s most winning club, with 33 championship titles out of a total of 88 times the top series has been hosted since 1929. In a European context, Los Blancos have won a record 26 trophies, 13 of which are Champions League victories. The home arena is the legendary Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, which has a capacity of 81,000 spectators.
- Atletico Madrid– Atletico is the third most successful club in Spain, and has won La Liga 10 times as of 2019. The club is also a regular at the very top of the Champions League, with 2 finals in the last 5 years (losses in both). The home games are played at Wanda Metropolitano, a great stadium with a capacity of 68,000 spectators.
- Getafe CF– Actually, Getafe is a separate city, but it is located right next to Madrid, and can be considered a suburb of the capital. The Getafe CF football club was established (for the second time) only 36 years ago, and has a fifth place as the best position in La Liga as of 2019. The home arena is called Coliseum Alfonso Perez, where the capacity is only 17,400 spectators.
- CD Leganes– Leganes is a suburb of Madrid located just northwest of Getafe, but within Madrid’s city limits. The club plays in the Spanish top division for the fourth year in a row. The home matches take place at the Estadio Municipal de Butarque, one of the league’s smallest stadiums, with a capacity of only 12,500 spectators.
Football trip to Rome
Rome is a city everyone should experience at least once in their life, no matter what their interest in football is. This is in many ways the cradle of modern civilization, and in Rome you will find an incredible amount of exciting and historically important architecture. In addition, the city is full of good restaurants in all price categories, there is a good nightlife there, and during the football season the climate is usually very pleasant.
Getting to the Italian capital is not a problem either. There are direct flights there from Oslo every single day, and the prices of airline tickets can be very nice. If you are looking a bit and book well in advance, you will usually find affordable hotels with a good standard in the center.
Clubs in Serie A per 2019:
- AS Roma– Associazione Sportiva Roma is the largest football club in the city, and a regular in Italy’s top division. Roma have won Serie A three times, most recently in 2000-01, in addition to taking home Coppa Italia 9 times. The home arena is the Stadio Olimpico, which has a capacity of 71,000 spectators.
- SS Lazio– Lazio are also relatively permanent fixtures in Serie A, and they have won the top division twice, most recently in 1999-00. The club has also won the Coppa Italia 7 times, as well as the UEFA Cup once (1999). Lazio share the home arena with AS Roma, ie Stadio Olimpico.
If you absolutely want to see Italian football on the trip, but do not want to go to Rome, Milan and Turin are good options. In Milan you have two teams in Serie A, AC Milan and Inter Milan respectively. In Turin, there is only one club in Serie A, but that is in return Juventus, Italy’s largest by far at the moment.
Get tickets to the match
Here are some tips to help you get tickets to the matches. Remember that you usually have to be out early to get tickets, especially for the most popular matches. Also be prepared for the fact that large groups are rarely allowed to sit together in the arena.
- Become a member of the supporter club– The cheapest tickets are those sold directly from the club itself. As a rule, members of the official supporter club have the first right to match tickets. Thus, you must first become a member of the supporter club before you can join the queue. Check on the club’s website which rules apply and on which dates the tickets go on sale.
- Buy hospitality tickets– All major football clubs offer hospitality packages. These tickets cost more, but usually include transportation to the stadium, dinner, drinks, and perhaps a meeting with one of the club’s players or ancient legends.
- Buy package tours– One of the best solutions for obtaining football tickets is to buy package tours that are sold by the clubs’ official partners. In this country, most of the packages to England in particular were arranged by Ving and the parent company Thomas Cook, but they unfortunately went bankrupt in the autumn of 2019. There are usually other partners who offer similar packages. Check the club’s website to find out which travel companies they work with.
- Buying from Second Sellers– There are many companies that resell tickets for football matches, but it is not always easy to know who to trust. Unfortunately, there are a number of scams out there in this market, but if you do a little research beforehand, it usually goes well. Look for rankings from, for example, Trustpilot. What you have to pay, however, is another matter. Second-hand tickets are often very expensive, depending on which match you want to watch. Tickets for a top settlement between, for example, Liverpool and Manchester United, can quickly cost more than NOK 10,000 per ticket. Also be aware that many clubs consider resale as illegal, and in the worst case you may be denied entry to the match.
- Avoid the black market– Betting on buying tickets outside the stadium is an unsuitable strategy. You can be scammed, and in most countries, selling on the black market is illegal.
- Ask other supporters– If you are completely out of ideas on how to get tickets to the match you want to see, you can ask other travel supporters. Find the official supporter club’s website. There is usually a discussion forum where travel tips and match tickets are discussed. Feel free to check both the team’s Norwegian supporter club, and discussion forums that are affiliated with the team locally.