Planning a Football Trip - Coronavirus Update
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Planning a Football Trip – Coronavirus Update Planning a Football Trip over the next few months – This Coronavirus Update helps with information on league suspensions to help people who may have planned football trips in March, April and the rest of 2020. Premier League football (soccer) matches have been suspended in England until April 3rd due to COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. So watching football in the UK is off and that is also case around the world. So if you are planning a football trip in March or April it unfortunately looks likely to be cancelled. As for the rest of the year we will just have to wait and see. Here is our guide to football suspensions around the world; Scotland has also suspended domestic professional and grassroots football until further notice. Uefa has postponed all continental tournaments, including all of next week’s Champions League and Europa League fixtures. A decision will be made next week on Euro 2020 which may be delayed by a season. This will also impact on the Uefa Nations League due to start in September 2020. League football has pretty much stopped around Europe; Italy have suspended the league until the 3rd April although this is likely to be extended to the 3rd May soon. All travel to and from Italy is currently suspended. La Liga has been suspended for at least the next two weeks. This affects all matchday 28 and 29 fixtures. All travel to and from Spain is currently suspended. Copa del Rey final between Real Sociedad and Athletic Bilbao on April 18
postponed. The Bundesliga was suspended this week and will meet again on Monday, most likely to suspend games until the 2nd April. Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP) – French football’s governing body – suspended all Ligue 1 and 2 games on Friday. Games in France were already to be played behind closed doors after a ban on all gatherings of more than 1,000 people to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and has now shutdown all non essential places used by the public. The Portuguese league announced this Thursday that Liga NOS and the LEDMAN Pro will be suspended indefinitely. All football in the Netherlands has been suspended until the end of the month because of the coronavirus epidemic, which means the Dutch national team have cancelled warm-up matches ahead of the European Championship. Swiss football league suspended until at least March 23. Austrian football is suspended until the 3rd April The Polish league Ekstraklasa has been suspended until at least April. The Ukraine Premier League will go behind closed doors until April 3. The Football Association of Ireland (FAI) has announced the postponement of all football matches under its jurisdiction until March 29 with immediate effect. On Thursday, the Czech Republic declared a 30-day state of emergency and barred entry to non-residents from coronavirus- affected countries, as well as partially closing its borders. There is no football there either. A border closure will be in effect in Denmark from March 14
until April 13. Anyone traveling to Norway from outside the Nordic region must self-isolate for two weeks, according to the Norwegian Health Directorate. The restrictions put in place March 12 are scheduled to last until March 26. We will try and keep the site updated with news and also follow our twitter feed where we have been posting regular updates. Planning a Football Trip to Europe – 28th March to 10th April Planning a Football Trip to Europe for March/April 2020. This post details the most exciting games from 29th March to 10th April to help you plan your football trip. Here are the stand out Football Trips Date Time City Game 28/03/2020 19:00 Gijon Sporting Gijon v Real Oviedo 03/04/2020 14:30 Dortmund Borussia Dortmund vs. Bayern Munich 04/04/2020 19:00 Rome Lazio v Milan 04/04/2020 19:00 Turin Juventus v Torino 04/04/2020 19:00 Naples Napoli v Roma 04/04/2020 19:00 Brescia Brescia v Hellas Verona 04-Apr 19:30 Gdansk Lechia Gdansk v Cracovia 04/04/2020 17:00 Moscow Dynamo Moscow v CSKA Moskva
04/04/2020 15:00 Edinburgh Hibs v Celtic 04/04/2020 19:00 Seville Sevilla v Barcelona 10/04/2020 19:00 Milan Milan v Juventus 10/04/2020 17:00 Nimes Nîmes Olympique vs. Montpellier HSC 10/04/2020 19:00 Groningen FC Groningen v sc Heerenveen Booking Your Trip Ticket Links UEFA Europa League round of 16 draw UEFA Europa League round of 16 ties İstanbul Başakşehir (TUR) vs Copenhagen (DEN) Olympiacos (GRE) vs Wolves (ENG) Rangers (SCO) vs Leverkusen (GER) Wolfsburg (GER) vs Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR) Internazionale Milano (ITA) vs Getafe (ESP) Sevilla (ESP) vs Roma (ITA) Eintracht Frankfurt (GER) / Salzburg (AUT)* vs Basel (SUI) LASK (AUT) vs Manchester United (ENG) The teams drawn first (on the left) host the first leg. Kick-
off times can be found here.
*Salzburg host Frankfurt in the second leg of their round of
32 tie today at 18:00 CET
When are the games?
The first legs are scheduled for 12 March, with the second
legs on 19 March. Kick-offs are split between 18:55 CET and
21:00 CET, as organised by the UEFA administration. Kick-off
times can be found here.
Draw facts
At least six of the eight ties feature first meetings
between the sides.
The potential exceptions (if Salzburg beat Frankfurt,
otherwise it is seven out of eight!):
Rangers beat Leverkusen in the 1998/99 UEFA Cup second
round (1-1 h, 2-1 a)
Basel beat Salzburg in the 2013/14 UEFA Europa League
round of 16 (0-0 h, 2-1 a)
Manchester United are unbeaten in their eight games
against Austria clubs, winning seven.
The Portuguese coaches of Olympiacos and Wolves, Pedro
Martins and Nuno Espírito Santo, were team-mates at
Guimarães in 1994/95.
Wolves’ Daniel Podence will face his former Olympiacos
team-mates, having made the switch from Piraeus in
January.
Road to the final
Round of 16
First legs: 12 March
Second legs: 19 March
Quarter-finals
Draw: 20 MarchFirst legs: 9 April Second legs: 16 April Semi-finals Draw: 20 March First legs: 30 April Semi-finals: 7 May Final Gdansk Stadium, Gdańsk: 27 May Planning a Football Trip to France – Coupe de France Semi-Final Planning a Football Trip to France, this post details the Coupe de France Semi-Final and how they can be combined with a Ligue 1 fixture the weekend before or after to make an excellent Football holiday. Coupe de France’s semi-final draw has been confirmed, Saint- Etienne will take on Rennes on the 3rd March, Lyon will face PSG on the 4th March. St Etienne is only an hour’s drive from Lyon. This give you the opportunity to see both games on a 2-day trip. If you can stay until the weekend, St Etienne play Bordeaux on Saturday 7th March.
Planning a Football Trip to
Europe – 14th to 27th March
Planning a Football Trip to Europe for March 2020. This post
details the most exciting games from 14th to 27th March 2020
to help you plan your football trip.
Here are the stand out Football Trips
Date Time City Game
14/03/2020 19:00 Parma Parma v Inter
14/03/2020 19:00 Milan Milan v Roma
14/03/2020 03:00 Prague Sparta Prague vs. Viktoria Plzeň
14/03/2020 17:00 Poznan Lech Poznan v Legia
14-Mar 19:30 Gdansk Lechia Gdansk v Arka Gdynia
14/03/2020 15:00 Glasgow Rangers v Celtic
14/03/2020 19:00 Seville Sevilla v Real Betis
14/03/2020 19:00 Valencia Valencia v Levanta
15/03/2020 11:15 Rotterdam Sparta Rotterdam v Feyenoord
20/03/2020 14:30 Berlin Hertha Berlin vs. Union Berlin
Olympique de Marseille vs Paris Saint-
20/03/2020 17:00 Marseille
Germain
20/03/2020 17:30 Zagreb Lokomotiva Zagreb v Dynamo Zagreb
21-Mar 19:00 Genoa Genoa v Juventus
21/03/2020 19:00 Bergamo Atalanta v Napoli
21/03/2020 17:00 Krakow Wisla v Legia
21-Mar 19:30 Gdynia Arka Gdynia v Slask Wroclaw
21/03/2020 17:00 Moscow CSKA Moscow v Zenit
21/03/2020 19:00 Eibar Eibar v Athletic Club
22/03/2020 13:30 Rotterdam Feyenoord v Ajax
Booking Your Trip
Ticket LinksPlan a Football Trip to Germany – Quarter Final Draw If you fancy a Football Trip to Germany in March then you could maximise the number of games that you see by going around the next round of the DFB Pokal (Cup). The draw was made this week and the games will be played on 3rd and 4th March. The quarter final draw is: Holders Bayern Munich will face Schalke away in the quarter- finals of the German Cup after the Bundesliga sides were pitted against each other in Sunday’s draw. Saarbrucken, from Germany’s fourth tier and the only non- Bundesliga club left in the cup, are home to Fortuna Dusseldorf. In the other quarter-finals, Bayer Leverkusen are at home to Union Berlin. Eintracht Frankfurt, who knocked out last season’s finalists RB Leipzig in mid-week, are home to Werder Bremen, who dumped out Borussia Dortmund.
The quarter-finals ties will takes place on March 3-4. If you were able to stay until the following weekend you could see Schalke v Hoffenheim or Bayer Leverkusen v Eintracht Frankfurt. Planning a Football Trip to Sweden – 2020 Fixtures Announced The 2020 Allsvenskan, part of the 2020 Swedish football season, will be the 96th season of Allsvenskan since its establishment in 1924. A total of 16 teams will participate. Djurgårdens IF are the defending champions after winning the title in the previous season. A total of sixteen teams are contesting the league, including fourteen sides from the previous season, and two promoted teams from the 2019 Superettan. GIF Sundsvall and AFC Eskilstuna were relegated at the end of the 2019 season after finishing at the bottom two places of the table, and were replaced by the 2019 Superettan champions Mjällby AIF and runners-up Varbergs BoIS. Fixtures The season starts on Saturday 4th April and end of Sunday 8th November. There are no games during June. All the fixtures can be found on the Allsvenskan website.
Stadia and locations
Stadium
Team Location Stadium Turf1 1
capacity
AIK Solna Friends Arena Natural 50,000
BK Häcken Gothenburg Bravida Arena Artificial 6,500
Djurgårdens
Stockholm Tele2 Arena Artificial 30,000
IF
Falcon
Falkenbergs
Falkenberg Alkoholfri Natural 5,565
FF
Arena
Hammarby IF Stockholm Tele2 Arena Artificial 30,000
Helsingborgs
Helsingborg Olympia Natural 16,500
IF
IF Elfsborg Borås Borås Arena Artificial 16,899
IFK Göteborg Gothenburg Gamla Ullevi Natural 18,600
IFK
Norrköping Nya Parken Artificial 15,734
Norrköping
IK Sirius Uppsala Studenternas IP Artificial 6,300
Guldfågeln
Kalmar FF Kalmar Natural 12,000
Arena
Malmö FF Malmö Eleda Stadion Natural 22,500
Mjällby AIF Hällevik Strandvallen Natural 6,750
Varbergs
Varberg Påskbergsvallen Natural 4,500
BoIS
Örebro SK Örebro Behrn Arena Artificial 12,300
Östersunds
Östersund Jämtkraft Arena Artificial 8,466
FKPlanning a Football Trip to Europe – 29th Feb to 13th March Planning a Football Trip to Europe for March 2020. This post details the most exciting games from 29th Feb to 13th March to help you plan your football trip. Here are the stand out Football Trips Date Time City Game 29/02/2020 19:00 Turin Juventus v Inter 29/02/2020 17:00 St Petersberg Zenit v Lokomotiv Moscow 29/02/2020 17:00 Moscow Dynamo Moscow v Spartak Moskva 29/02/2020 19:00 Madrid Real Madrid v Barcelona 01/03/2020 13:30 Eindhoven PSV v Feyenoord 03/03/2020 17:30 Split Hadjuk Split v Dynamo Zagreb 04/03/2020 19:30 Krakow Cracovia v Wisla 04/03/2020 15:00 Edinburgh Hibs v Hearts 05/03/2020 17:00 Brugge Club Brugge vs. Cercle Brugge 06/03/2020 17:00 Angers SCO Angers vs FC Nantes 06/03/2020 17:00 Nice OGC Nice vs. AS Monaco 07/03/2020 19:00 Bologna Bologna v Juventus 07/03/2020 17:00 Warsaw Legia v Piast Gliwice 07-Mar 19:30 Krakow Wisla v Lech Poznan 07/03/2020 18:00 Prague Slavia Prague vs. Sparta Prague 13/03/2020 14:30 Dortmund Borussia Dortmund vs. Schalke Booking Your Trip
Ticket Links Planning a Football to Italy – Coppa Italia Semi-Final Announced COPPA ITALIA, THE SEMI-FINAL DATES The dates of the Coppa Italia semi-finals Inter-Napoli and Milan-Juventus have been confirmed, with first legs on February 12-13 and the returns on March 4-5. This is the only stage of the tournament that will be played over two legs, as every other round was decided after 90 minutes, extra time or penalties. Inter v Napoli at San Siro will kick off on February 12 at 19.45 UK time, with Milan v Juventus at the same arena 24 hours later, on Thursday February 13. As for the second leg, Juventus v Milan is in Turin on
Wednesday March 4 at 19.45.
Napoli v Inter is at the Stadio San Paolo on the evening of
Thursday March 5.
In turn, this has a knock-on effect for some Serie A fixtures.
Now Fiorentina-Brescia will be switched to 11.30 UK time kick-
off on Sunday March 8, whereas Inter-Sassuolo moves to 14.00
UK time that same day.
Planning a Football Trip to
New MLS Stadiums
This post helps you plan football trips to the 3 news stadiums
that will have their first matches in the 2020 MLS season.
3 MLS teams will be playing at new stadiums in 2020 so Ground
Hoppers have an opportunity to visit 3 new grounds.
Stadium Openers
Nashville SC will play their first MLS regular-season
home match at Nissan Stadium on Feb. 29 when they face
Atlanta United.
Inter Miami’s home opener will be March 14 against
the LA Galaxy at Inter Miami CF Stadium in Fort
Lauderdale.
Chicago Fire FC will return to Soldier Field in 2020,
with their first home date on March 21 against Atlanta
United.Nissan Stadium Nissan Stadium is located on the east bank of the Cumberland River, directly across the river from downtown Nashville and has a listed seating capacity of 69,143. Its first event was a preseason game between the Titans and the Atlanta Falcons on August 27, 1999. Since opening in 1999, it has been known by multiple names, including Adelphia Coliseum (1999–2002), The Coliseum (2002–2006), and LP Field (2006–2015). The stadium features three levels of seating, with the lower bowl completely encompassing the field. The club and upper levels form the stadium’s dual towers, rising above the lower bowl along each sideline. All of the stadium’s luxury suites are located within the towers. Three levels of suites are located in the stadium’s eastern tower: one between the lower and club levels, and two between the club and upper levels. The western tower has only two levels of suites, both between the club and upper levels. The pressbox is located between the lower and club levels in the western tower. Nissan Stadium’s dual videoboards are located behind the lower bowl in each end zone. On Nissan Stadium’s eastern side is the Titans Pro Shop, a retail store which sells team merchandise. It remains open year-round and maintains an exterior entrance for use on non-
event dates. Construction of the Major League Soccer stadium, where Nashville SC will play, is on hold after Mayor John Cooper took office and did not sign the demolition contract to get the project underway. The plan is for Nashville SC to kick off at Nissan Stadium until their new stadium is built, with their first match as an MLS team scheduled for this upcoming February against Atlanta, but the details of the future of the MLS stadium are currently unclear. Inter Miami CF Stadium Inter Miami CF will transform Fort Lauderdale’s Lockhart site into its permanent training complex with the addition of an 18,000-capacity stadium. The community will gain access to over 30 acres of green space to include proposed amenities such as youth soccer fields, a park and a community center when the project is complete. Inter Miami plans to launch its first two MLS seasons in Fort Lauderdale. The Lockhart site will remain the permanent training complex for the Clubs’
teams, including its youth Academy when Miami Freedom Park opens. The ultimate goal is to move to their brand new purpose-built 25,000 seater stadium at the Melreese golf course site near Miami Airport, but it won’t be ready until 2022. Lockhart Stadium was once the home of the Fort Lauderdale Strikers but had fallen into a state of disrepair since they moved out fully in 2016. It was also home of the ill-fated MLS franchise Miami Fusion between 1998 and 2001. Soldier Field Soldier Field, formerly called (1924–25) Grant Park Municipal Stadium, stadium in Chicago that was built in 1924 and is one of the oldest arenas in the NFL, home to the the city’s professional gridiron football team, the Bears, since 1971.
In 1919 the South Park Commission (later reorganized as the Chicago Park District) held a design competition for what supporters hoped would be “the largest, most beautiful public arena in the world.” In addition, the stadium would also honour the city’s World War I veterans. Architects William Holabird and Martin Roche won with a design for a Greek Revival stadium that notably featured a pair of colonnades. In 1922 construction began along Lake Michigan and continued for more than a decade. Although it had been envisioned to seat 150,000 people, the stadium featured approximately 74,000 permanent seats, with temporary seating for 30,000. On October 9, 1924, the multipurpose Grant Park Municipal Stadium, as it was then known, hosted its first event: an athletic meet for police officers. An estimated 90,000 spectators saw such events as motorcycle polo. The following month, the stadium held its first football game, a collegiate match in which Notre Dame defeated Northwestern, 13–6. In 1925 the stadium was renamed Soldier Field, and on
November 27, 1926, it was officially dedicated during “one of the greatest football games ever played,” a 21–21 tie between Army and Navy. Over the ensuing decades, Soldier Field hosted a number of memorable events. In 1927 the stadium was the site of a controversial rematch between boxers Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney that became known as the “Battle of the Long Count.” After knocking down Tunney, Dempsey initially failed to go to a neutral corner, thus delaying the start of the count and allowing Tunney to recover and eventually win a 10-round decision. In 1944 Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered a speech that was attended by a reported 150,000 people, and a decade later Soldier Field drew some 260,000 Catholics who were celebrating the Marian year, which honoured the Virgin Mary. In 1968 the stadium hosted the first Special Olympics. However, Soldier Field was most closely associated with the Chicago Bears. The team had played at Wrigley Field for more than 50 years before deciding on a new venue. After some consideration, the Bears opted to return to Soldier Field, where they had played a game in 1926. The stadium became the team’s home beginning with the 1971 season. In order to offer fans a better view, seats were moved closer to the field, lowering the stadium capacity to nearly 57,000. In 1978 a renovation plan began that included the addition of nearly 10,000 seats. Despite such changes, there were continued calls for more extensive updates, and at various points the owners of the Bears threatened to move the team out of the city. In 2001 local and state authorities—including the Chicago Park Distict, which still owned the stadium—agreed to a renovation plan that replaced most of the arena, except for its neoclassical shelf, including the colonnades. Work began the following year, and the Bears played at the University of Illinois’ Memorial Stadium during the 2002 season. Construction was completed in 2003—at a cost of some $690
million—and the resulting stadium proved controversial, with much of the criticism directed at the modern seating bowl, which some compared to a spaceship. Another point of contention was the capacity. The number of seats dropped to 61,500, which failed to meet the NFL’s requirement of 70,000 to host a Super Bowl. The renovation was also notable for causing the stadium to lose its National Historic Landmark status in 2006.
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