With all the excitement surrounding our qualification for the Europa League I thought I would have a little explore of the chances of managing to acquire a ticket to a venue outside of these shores. Is it just football fans who obsess about grounds? I find there is something magical about going to a ground, no matter what tier of football you’re watching. Football grounds have a character and on match days become a living entity, you can have feelings for them. And it seems more exotic to go to grounds in other
parts of the world, where you really are an outsider who can observe and try to become part of the events unfolding before you.
Leading into those final few matches of the season I was trying not to get carried away with thoughts of visiting iconic grounds such as the San Siro in Milan or the Vélodrome in Marseille. And as soon as the impossible dream had become a reality on 24 May I was thinking that finally getting to an away match was going to be a formality, because surely there would be plenty of tickets available for long trips abroad on weekdays? Naive thinking I fear, especially as I delved into the UEFA regulations regarding stadiums.
At the time of writing we know of thirteen clubs who are competing from the League Phase of the Europa League, leaving 23 places to be filled by the various qualifying routes. Of the 13 confirmed qualifiers only five of these clubs have grounds with a capacity of over 40000 – Real Sociedad (40177), Juventus (41500), Sunderland (49000), Marseille (67000) and AC Milan (75800). And this is where the regulations make those grounds seem a bit smaller than you think. Home clubs are required to make at least 5% of the capacity available for away supporters, so even in the biggest stadium which is the San Siro, the away allocation might only be 3750. The other regulation that affects all clubs from the League Phase onwards is that the stadium must be a category 4 ground. According to the UEFA website this means that the stadium must have a minimum capacity of 8000. This obviously causes problems for the Portuguese second tier club Torreense whose ground holds 2400. Therefore, they will end up playing their “home” matches 190 miles away in Faro. The regulations are very demanding in terms of the whole stadium infrastructure and there was some talk that Bournemouth had fallen foul of these, although the club does say it has the necessary UEFA licence to host European matches. There is a positive regulation regarding pricing, similar to one in the Premier League, and that is that away tickets should not be more than €35, although I can’t check that remains the case for the coming season.
There is so much to take in now that European football is going to be part of the Sunderland experience, hopefully on a regular basis. Trying to work out how to negotiate the financial constraints as well as managing the composition of the playing squad is no easy matter and it is to the great credit of those contributors to Roker Report who have tackled these issues.
To conclude, there is one away day that may be more straightforward and that is the pre-season friendly against RC Lens at the Stade Bollaert-Delelis.
The match is part of the Trophée 1906, Lens’ annual event marking the year of their foundation. The stadium holds 38200 spectators and is described as being built in the English style with its four very similar stands. I did go to a French Ligue 1 match here at the beginning of the 1983/84 season and was behind one of the goals in steeply banked seating if my memory serves me well. The atmosphere was really good as the Lens supporters are a passionate lot so there should be plenty of noise when Sunderland come to town. Frustratingly for me this fixture does not coincide with my holiday in France, but I may get to Stade Rennais to check them out before they visit the Stadium of Light.
