Non Rangers Games Abroad You've Attended?

Attended quite a few PSG games when working in Paris in the late nineties and throughout the naughties. The final game of the 1997 season v Strasbourg with CL participation on the line, The 2008 Cup Final v Lyon, relegation battle v St Etienne which was Pauletta’s last game, and 4-0 demolishing of Lille, being the most memorable

I’ve also attended multiple MLS games in Toronto, Chicago, and Washington DC
 
DeeGer10 said:
I'm really just trying to find out firstly some of the more obscure places people have decided to part with their cash because of their love for football/sport.

Also just some of what makes going to a game enjoyable even if the standard isn't the best. Leaving it open to just letting people tell me about it is valuable.

I think games in Argentina or the Belgrade Derby amongst numerous others are good for the atmosphere and sell themselves.

But what else does it when the atmosphere isn't great, is it the location, the city, the people the clubs museum etc?
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For me it's travelling and seeing new things - the actual standard of Football means zero to me really now. I want to see different fan scenes, fan pubs, old Stadiums, different cultures. Try and see as much memorabilia as possible so research is a big part of that - finding out bars etc... where loads is on display. So many great Stadiums are going forever and I wanted to see them before they went, Football has changed so much since I started going week in week out 30 years ago (40 now)

I absolutely hate sitting at Football now, that is what going to various matches where you can stand and are lively has done to me.
 
I went to the Argentina v England World Cup Quarter Final at the Azteca Stadium in 1986.
As you can imagine, there was a lot of tension between the nations, on the back of the Falklands.
They were burning Union Flags outside and inside the Stadium, and there was a few isolated skirmishes, between the the fans, but nothing major, that I witnessed.
Squads of military police brandishing white batons patrolled the ground.
The Attendance was 114,580.
I went on an England Supporters bus, that was hosted by Geoff Hurst, who's goal had eliminated Argentina in the 66' world cup at Wembley.
The game where Sir Alf had called the Argentinians Animals.
I was accompanied (not by choice) by one other Scottish guy, on this coach full of Englishmen.
The wee guy was from Glasgow, but claimed to be a Hearts supporter!!!!
Fantastic game, Maradona hand of God goal, then followed a few mins later with arguably the greatest goal ever at the World Cup (it was voted Goal of the Century in 1999).
I felt that England were very disappointing on the day, and didn't really perform well.
They were more concerned about containing Maradona (where they obviously failed), than they were about attacking an Argentinian defence that was somewhat suspect.
Only when they introduced John Barnes off the bench, with less than 15 mins to play, and trailing by two goals, did they look like they wanted to attack.
It was too little too late, even if England did pull one goal back.
I remember soaking up the incredible atmosphere and the jubilant celebrations of the Argentinians after the game, before making my way back to the Coach.
We were the last to board the coach, that was obviously full of saddened and silent Englishmen, and this drunken little Scottish guy (I never did get his real name, though I do remember him getting called Wallace Mercer), proceeded to get directly in the face of Geoff Hurst, who was sat rather sombre at the front of the coach, with this little Scottish guy chanting Ar gen tina, Ar gen tina, in his face, before slowly staggering to the rear of the coach, all the while continuing his cringefully embarrassing chant.
How we never got killed, I do not know.

I also went to the Semi Final, Argentina v Belgium, another incredible Maradona performance, and the Final itself against West Germany.

I won the tickets (and the entire trip) in a competition in the Daily Express (English version).
 
Been to a few in the Netherlands, not just great footballing tradition but easy to get around and communicate. USA a couple of times and some odds and sods in Europe including the Bernabeu v PSG. Quite a lot of potential info to be shared...
 
Been to a few Feyenoord as well as a few Levski Sofia including a couple of "Eternal Derby" games against CSKA.

Not sure if widespread across Netherlands, but Feyenoord have their refreshment areas tokens only, which you can either buy in bulk or in lots of 5 tokens (10 halves). It saves so much time with messing about with cash, and it seemed like something that is a no brainer. It also means that it's easy to get your mate to pick you something up as you just hand them the right amount of tokens etc. Say Oorlog fries were like 1.5 tokens, fries and a drink was 2 tokens, there's no messing about.

The Levski games were just on a different level atmosphere wise. It's around £8 to get in Sektor B with the ultras, and basically the football comes second to the atmosphere. CSKA fans set the ground on fire at one, a guy climbed up onto the scoreboard at another. The build up walking through the city with the fans setting off flashbangs etc along the route and the police lining the streets is just surreal. I always keep an eye on the fixture list to see when I can get back over for one.
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Germany

Hertha Berlin v Bayern Munich
Hamburg v St Pauli

Italy

Atalanta v Bologna
Novara v Bari
AC Milan v Lazio

Spain

Real Madrid v Villarreal
Rayo Vallecano v Levante

Ireland

Chelsea v Arsenal
 
Been to 1860 Munich v Heidenheim at the Allianz Arena, Eintracht Frankfurt v Bayern Munich, Fortuna Dusseldorf v Freiburg, Cologne v Magdeburg, Moenchengladbach v Nuremburg, Hertha Berlin v Freiburg and Wolfsburg v Moenchengladbach, never had any problem getting tickets or any bother at the games, normally a decent atmosphere as well maybe the beer helps with that.
Also been to Toronto Maple Leaf v Nashville Predators at Maples Leaf Gardens many years ago, Nashville Predators v Calgary Flames and New York Rangers v Tampa Bay Lighting, and Toronto Blue Jays v Tampa Bay Devil Rays at the Skydome or whatever it's called now, God baseball is boring left about the 7th innings can't even remember the score as nothing much happened
 
Barcelona v Valladolid, 2003 or 2004. Just went up to the ground the day before the game and bought tickets, pretty easy. The game was pish, 0-0 and Ronaldinho was out injured.

Sparta Prague v Hansa Rostock, 2007 (preseason friendly) no idea what the score was, had been on the lash for nearly 48 hours straight and spent the game trying to stay awake by watching the mental German fans in the corner. They were fucking lunatics.

Think that's it for me not including English games... pretty shit really.

Definitely going to get to Germany for a game with my pals next season if we can.
 
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Only one:
Juventus vs Panathinaikos at the old Stadio delle Alpi 19/09/2000
The night before Monaco vs Rangers 20/09/2000
 
Went to Copenhagen vs Nordsjaelland a couple of years back. Was in the Copenhagen end but they lost 3-1, follow follow favourite Andreas Skov Olsen was phenomenal for Nordsjaelland that day and if memory serves correct scored. The atmosphere was great, would recommend to anyone to try and get tickets if out that way.
 
Wolfsburg v Mainz a few years back whilst in Berlin on a stag door. Was supposed to be a Hertha match but game got moved to the Sunday and we were travelling home so got a train to Wolfsburg instead. Brilliant atmosphere and a great set up
 
Liverpool vs Spurs (CL Final)
Liverpool vs Napoli (friendly)
Liverpool vs Stoke / Man City / Newcastle (league)
Aston Villa vs Man utd
Barca vs Valencia
Ferencvaros vs Honved
Holland vs Czech Republic
Sparta Prague vs Mlada Bolesav
Scotland vs Spain / Czech Republic
 
real mallorca v milan in a friendly, no idea what year it was..maybe 2006ish was on holiday with my old man and brother in Majorca. Decent wee ground from what I remember
 
Lived in Granada for 3 years and have a whole side of a family that includes season ticket holders. So went quite a few times.

Went to their important "derby" about 5 years ago when they first got promoted against Málaga. And was also there when they got promoted from La Segunda (glory hunting!). Even as someone who lived in Spain for a while, the actual reality of the football experience there was surprising. As much as we say Ibrox is like a library sometimes, mid-table La Liga is like a wee day out with the family.

But I think that literally is how it's seen there for the mid table teams; it's a day out with the kids. It's not that they don't have ultras or ultra-passionate fans. It's just that they don't have as much of a culture of actually GOING to games and following the teams in the same way. There are exceptions, but mostly your average teams will never sell out their games outwith Barca/Real. It's quite sad, but it's because the TV deals there mean that every club gets to negotiate their own terms. So Barca and Real become richer and richer, and the other clubs lose fans and passion in a league and a cup where they literally have zero chance of winning anything ever.

Like I said, eperience is like a day down Kelvingrove park with the kids. So everyone sips (non-alco) beer like water, they sell bocadillos de jamón, tortilla de patatas... and wee old guys smoke right in your face while spitting out pumpkin seeds.

Absolutely loved living in non-touristy Spain as a youngster (mostly) and becoming fluent, but the matchday culture for the average team is just nowhere near what you'd expect, and all the stadiums are 90% concrete with no real soul. Even the Bernabéu is mildly disappointing from the outside. Atleti were really the first to change this lately.

Also just for a rant because I've been looking for somewhere to say this for fucking years now; the Granada stadium doesn't have any roof, you're totally exposed. They say "oh it's because it's so hot!". But in winter it's colder there than in Glasgow, euughhh.
 
Went to Ajax vs Feyenoord a few years back at the Amsterdam Arena.

I got tickets off a website that I presume was the Dutch version of viagogo. They weren’t expensive but I seem to recollect paying much more than the face value that was on them when I collected them at the stadium on the day of the game. The reception area of the ground I picked them up from was very nice. They had lots of women serving and well signed for someone that doesn’t speak Dutch. I don’t know what the Dutch for the prawn sandwich brigade is but the seats we had were in amongst them.

My husband and I managed to get into a wee pub directly opposite the stadium before the match. I have some pictures and videos if these are any use to the OP. The pub was fairly rowdy, singing, chanting and it was heaving as you’d expect given it’s proximity to the ground. Think the Louden before an OF game. The AA (now the Johan Cruyff Arena I think) is outside the city centre of Amsterdam. We just jumped in a taxi out to it. If I remember rightly this cost about €20.

The game itself wasn’t as good as I expected but the Feyenoord fans were superb to watch from the home end. Banners, chanting, celebrations.

This was the game -

 
Was on a ski holiday in Italy and the rep got tickets for Milan v Napoli a few years ago when it was top versus second top.
San Siro was rammed and it was the best atmosphere I’ve ever been in - aye including old firm - was unbelievable.
Milan had Kaka, Maldini etc and won 3-0.
Great experience.
 
Barcelona v Atletico Madrid
Bayern Munich v Werder Bremen
Sparta Prague v Ajax
Slavia Prague v Cork City
Cologne v Wolfsburg
Bayern Munich v Celtic - was there on holiday when the game was being played so got a ticket
 
Yugoslavia 1 Colombia 0 in Bologna, 1990 World Cup.
I remember it was a really hot, sunny day and the ball was played on the deck all the time. Higuita and Stojkovic starred. The stadium had a sort of castle tower. In Bologna we had spaghetti bolognese at a cafe and struck up a conversation with a local who wanted to talk about Jimmy Johnstone dribbling!

 
Had a mate (RIP) that came from Hungary. He took me to a game while I was out there many years ago. Honved v MTK. Game wasn’t particularly good. My most vivid memory is stepping on all the sunflower seed shells on the way out. And we think our catering is bad
 
MO_TxTruBlu said:
I went to the Argentina v England World Cup Quarter Final at the Azteca Stadium in 1986.
As you can imagine, there was a lot of tension between the nations, on the back of the Falklands.
They were burning Union Flags outside and inside the Stadium, and there was a few isolated skirmishes, between the the fans, but nothing major, that I witnessed.
Squads of military police brandishing white batons patrolled the ground.
The Attendance was 114,580.
I went on an England Supporters bus, that was hosted by Geoff Hurst, who's goal had eliminated Argentina in the 66' world cup at Wembley.
The game where Sir Alf had called the Argentinians Animals.
I was accompanied (not by choice) by one other Scottish guy, on this coach full of Englishmen.
The wee guy was from Glasgow, but claimed to be a Hearts supporter!!!!
Fantastic game, Maradona hand of God goal, then followed a few mins later with arguably the greatest goal ever at the World Cup (it was voted Goal of the Century in 1999).
I felt that England were very disappointing on the day, and didn't really perform well.
They were more concerned about containing Maradona (where they obviously failed), than they were about attacking an Argentinian defence that was somewhat suspect.
Only when they introduced John Barnes off the bench, with less than 15 mins to play, and trailing by two goals, did they look like they wanted to attack.
It was too little too late, even if England did pull one goal back.
I remember soaking up the incredible atmosphere and the jubilant celebrations of the Argentinians after the game, before making my way back to the Coach.
We were the last to board the coach, that was obviously full of saddened and silent Englishmen, and this drunken little Scottish guy (I never did get his real name, though I do remember him getting called Wallace Mercer), proceeded to get directly in the face of Geoff Hurst, who was sat rather sombre at the front of the coach, with this little Scottish guy chanting Ar gen tina, Ar gen tina, in his face, before slowly staggering to the rear of the coach, all the while continuing his cringefully embarrassing chant.
How we never got killed, I do not know.

I also went to the Semi Final, Argentina v Belgium, another incredible Maradona performance, and the Final itself against West Germany.

I won the tickets (and the entire trip) in a competition in the Daily Express (English version).
Click to expand...
You win! :0)
 
long weekend in Prague - watched Sparta v some other team that didn’t seem to have any vowels in their name, just multiples c’s x’s and z’s. We got the dearer tickets, about £9. Could take beer to your seat.

weekend in Lisbon in 2013. Sporting were at home against a team I had to google. Game was ok, but I spent half the time trying to spot where I’d went mental at the front of the upper tier, when Whittaker did his mazy run!

Madrid 2001 family trip for my son’s birthday. Athletico vs Valladolid. Cracking game of soccerball, but I was quite shocked by the amount of anti-Semitic graffiti in the concourse. Would’ve made Roma fans blush

Assorted games in the north east, Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Sunderland - son & I regularly got the train down and back. Long, booze-fuelled day trips. Met big Carlos Cuellar outside one of the grounds after he’d left us.

Brazil 2006 - Flamenca vs Botafogo, cup game at the Maracana. Crowd of only about 25,000, but they were lively. Football was poor, and we were miles away. Made Hampden seem like a reasonable view.
Biggest memory was the 3-way battle we saw from the Tourist bus after the game - riot police vs Flamengo vs Botafogo ultras. It was mental, from the few minutes I saw (and I was on the pitch at the 1980 SCF)
 
I’m not that interested in watching other teams. It’s the Rangers for me. But … abroad on business can quite often be boring at night time. So, one tends to end up going along in the off chance might get a ticket. Much easier in the 70’s and 80’s to waltz into Ajax or the Olympic stadium in Berlin, or see AC or Inter. Athens I had a choice, red or green. Lisbon had to be Benfica. PSG when they were rotten. Gothenburg, Sofia (a bit of a dump). Hamburg was set in a park. Surprisingly, most stadiums were easy to get to, with the exception of San Siro in its time. I now know they’ve extended the metro to the stadium, but before that, it would take a 40 minute walk from the station. I had to walk miles to the Bernabeau. Arsenal by tube. Chelsea a bit of a walk. I’d like to visit Hong Kong again, after a FF’er wrote recently about HK Rangers. I did get to the Maracana, but it was closed for rennovation. St Petersburg some 40 odd years ago - a vast, open stadium then. I’m sure I needed a special letter to let me in as a tourist(?). It was a weird experience. As the years went by, corporate football emerged. It’s now very difficult to visit Ajax or Arsenal and Chelsea and tickets from agencies, so I’ve been told, can cost £120 and upwards for a seat. So, for the younger generation, what I and others took for granted is becoming more and more difficult to visit other teams on the off chance.
 
Spain v Croatia, September 2018.
Bus and entrance around 40€, Spain won 6-0, Ramos, Modric ... they were all there.
Played at the Elche, lovely stadium, people so friendly one major issue. .... Elche play in green.
 
Union Berlin v someone a couple of years ago. Ramshackle of a stadium but plenty of beer and being in the terracing led to an amazing atmosphere
 
Steven said:
Portland Timbers vs Seattle Sounders.

A decent rivalry.

Props to the fan in the gimp mask next to me


Saw Chicago Fire Vs Toronto

Only other I can think of was my last holiday with the parents and going to see Real Mallorca Vs Betis around 97/98 where Eto was playing for Mallorca.
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Sounders inaugural game in the MLS

MLS Cup Final in Seattle

First MLS Timbers v Sounders game in Portland.
 
mississaugabear said:
I have been to various MLS games, Chivas v Pumas in Guadalajara, Mexico. In Argentina, I've been to:
Racing v Independiente (Estadio Peron)
Quimes v Arsenal
River v Independiente(Monumental) (independiente fans let fires in the stands)
Argentina v Peru (Monumental)
River v Boca (Monumental)- Police made the River fans (I was in their section) wait for at least 1 hour after the game was over before you could leave. Outside the stadium, fans were separated by fencing that was abut 100 metres in length - no mans land inbetween. Police everywhere! Atmosphere was amazing.
Click to expand...
It’s funny in Argentina, been a few matches where the homes fans are kept in.
 
My bird is originally from Finland so took in a few HJK games over the years. Not bad but a weird atmosphere if you're used to Ibrox. Other than that, just English teams (Chelsea, Tottenham, Aston Villa, at home).
 
Numerous Hamburg

Inter v Lazio. Was disappointed with the San Siro
 
Funnily enough I watched Slavia Prague when I was over there in the ‘90s. I’m pretty sure they played Banik Ostrava and won 2-0.

I liked that you could drink in the ground (it was dirt cheap too, the equivalent of about 30p a pint, IIRC) and was bemused by the fact they still had skinheads as their hardcore ultra element.

There was maybe only 10,000 there from memory.
 
IFK Göteburg a couple of times at the gamla Ullevi , not a bad atmosphere only about 13,000 or so in the ground. They all stand and sing the club song just before the match starts , gets the hairs on the back of the neck standing up.
 
UEFA Cup semi final Istanbul 5th April 2000 Galatasaray v Leeds. Landed into Istanbul on business morning of match, city in turmoil following crowd trouble (2 Leeds fans sadly stabbed to death night before). Leeds fans flights from UK cancelled. I’m not a Leeds supporter, but got drunk, got spare ticket from one of the small numbers of Leeds fans already in Istanbul and went to game. Was ( and will remain) my only time at ‘The Stadium of Hell’.
 
SasaPrso said:
Went to Sevilla vs Granada in January 2020. Apparently it was a local derby but the atmosphere was pretty non existant and was only about 3/4 full. Lots of families and kids. Just different from what we are used to. Everyone was eating these little seeds aswell. No pies. It was bizarre. Was on my 3rd beer before i realised they were non alcoholic. Can't buy drink there either apparently.

All that made it sound bad but i was still an amazing experience :))
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Been to Sevilla v Betis. It’s the biggest city derby in Spain but absolutely no comparison to OF.
 
Been to Hertha Berlin a few times, great matches, great match day experience. For me this is what sets German football apart from the rest

Also been to Atletico Madrid v PSV in champions league.

Season ticket holder at Pucela, so seen lots of games in the top two leagues of Spain. Spanish football is pretty good.
 
Been to Milan v Juventus, Milan v Fiorentina... does Ballymena v Ards count? :cool:

Been to a heap of game in England mostly at Chelsea or Reading.
 
Most obscure was San Pedro de Atacama. No idea who they were playing but it was a tiny stadium with about 200 passionate fans and a dreadful standard of football. It’s the driest place on Earth except everyone was blootered and playing brass and wind musical instruments and drums. Never went to a game in La Paz in Bolivia but they have funiculars connecting the city (which is in a massive volcanic valley between12-14000ft altitude ) and there’s a couple of stadiums they go more or less over. Definitely most spectacular view of football stadiums ive seen.
 
Bologna Parma a few years ago was maybe the best. Just bring in the iconic Italia 90 venue was great and sitting high in the bleachers with sun scorching down was a real novelty compared to watching Rangers in the cold and rain.

Seeing Jose’s Chelsea (first time) in the flesh at Goodison vs Everton was also a highlight as they were imperious at the time.
 
Some of the highlights for me have been

Partizan Belgrade vs Young boys of Bern. Partizan fans were great but sounded like they sang the same song over and over all night.

Viktoria Zizok v some other lower league Czech side. Kick off was at 10am, it was £3 a ticket and I think it was 6-0. The Zizkov team all linked arms and sang a song with the fans at the corner after the game.

Alkmaar v Den Haag. Decent ground and good atmosphere.

AC Milan v Napoli. Loved the San Siro and they were selling super tennents on tap in the fanzone outside!
 
Many Lazio games over the years including the Derby. My second team.

I got to an FC Köln v Hamburg game when in the city a couple of years back. It's a city I'm in yearly but was always unlucky with fixtures.

I absolutely loved the atmosphere as I thought I would with my previous trips to Germany following the Bears.

My last football trip abroad was Legia v Lech Poznan.

The colour and displays were impressive but the atmosphere was a bit more subdued to what I expected to be.

The next one I'm hoping to get to is the Belgrade Derby. I was looking at different travel routes to get there prior to the pandemic.

If anyone has advice on that for the future it would be appreciated.
 
Barcelona v Deportivo La Coruna, 2013.
Barca still at their peak, Alexis Sanchez scored in the first half. Second half Messi and Iniesta came off the bench, Messi scored for the 17th league game in a row. Finished 2-0, crowd 70,000, atmosphere was disappointingly flat, loads of tourists from Northern Europe. Only livened up when Messi came on, they idolised him.

Real Madrid v Valencia, 2017.
Real had lost 3-2 at home to Barca in the league midweek, and were due to play Atleti in the Champions League semis the next midweek. Ronaldo scored a header, Ronaldo missed a penalty, Valencia scored a cracking free kick, Marcelo saved the day right at the end. Finished 2-1, crowd 77,000, great atmosphere, loads of tourists from all over the world. Seemed to me Ronaldo wasn’t universally popular, but they all loved Luca Modric.
 
I've been to watch Buriram United V's Samut Prakan at the Chang arena nicknamed Thunder castle. It's actually a very decent stadium but level of football was pretty poor and there wasn't any real fan engagement with the players etc it felt a bit forced entertainment. Buriram utd won either 2-1 or 2-0 I can't really remember.
 
Last one I was at was in Athens, AEK vs PAOK. No away fans due to trouble at the previous game but the atmosphere was pretty good.

Pyro easily available outside the ground as was food cooked over bbqs brought from home. They also had wheelbarrows full of ice and bottles of beer sold for a euro. I think it was about 14 euros for the ticket.
 
Barcelona v osasuna about 10 years ago. Barca had real madrid the following mid week in champions league semi so played a "weakened team" mascherano played sweeper with his slippers on and in the 2nd half barca brought 3 subs on, messsi/ xavi and inesta awesome!
 
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