55 football nations in one season!

Domestic league and cup football
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55footballnations
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Post by 55footballnations »

Thanks again for the tips. I may well ask a few more questions when the fixtures are released for the autumn leagues.

I will rely on some double game weekends (and note the Friday/Saturday possibility in Republic/Northern Ireland) to achieve my aim, but I don't need or want to rush too much. I'm aiming on interviewing fans at many of the games I attend and spending a few more days in a city, region or country will give me more context. And also some important cover if and when games are postponed or moved!

I do need to see a Welsh league game (TNS away is a good shout) and Swansea, like AS Monaco in Ligue 1, would be a strange choice to represent the Premier League. I like the idea of watching Spurs at Wembley, especially as tickets will be easy to obtain, and Brighton/Bournemouth are two southern options with a good, uplifting, story. I'm London-based so the travel/fixture conundrums should be easily resolvable for England and leagues in nearby nations.
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Post by Lorric »

Because of how much of an unknown quantity it is, it would be interesting if you could compare the Kosovo match to the other matches. Also to a lesser extent Gibraltar, who've done surprisingly well in Europe. I guess ideally you'd want a clash between two top teams from these leagues to be able to do that.
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Maribor
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Post by Maribor »

Kosovo actually has an okay history in football, not amazing but they aren't exactly a San Marino for example.
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AnelZ
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Post by AnelZ »

Yeah, FK Prishtina had even in one season (1984-85) the highest attendance in the First Yugoslav league according to some sources. The average was around 18500.
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Post by bossake »

in Romania I suggest you to come in National Arena in Bucharest. The best will be to come if possible at a Steaua (FCSB) - Dinamo game.
You can try connect match from Bucharest with match in Sofia or Razgrad. (few hours with the car).
Another connectivity you can make is Iasi - Chisinau (Moldova).

For any advices you can ask me or in Romanian league topic. Congrats for your decision and all the best :)
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jmf
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Post by jmf »

spoonman wrote:There's a big DFB football museum in Dortmund that opened in 2015 (I haven't been there yet).
https://www.fussballmuseum.de/en/visit/address.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Football_Museum

In the Rhine-Ruhr area, you could watch up to 5 professional games on one weekend, from Friday to Monday:
Dortmund
Schalke
Bochum
Duisburg
Mönchengladbach
Düsseldorf
Leverkusen
Köln

Tickets are rather cheap but 1st level stadiums are usually sold out. Leverkusen have one of the smaller Bundesliga stadiums but they struggle to fill it against lesser opponents. If you travel by train: Stations in Dortmund and Köln are hubs for international connections. Mönchengladbach is next to the Dutch border, so it would be a good choice if you go by car. Düsseldorf and Köln/Bonn would be your international airports.

German kick-off times in 2017-18:
Fri 18:30 2.Bundesliga (2 games)
Fri 19:00 3.Liga (usually 1 or 2 games)
Fri 20:30 Bundesliga (1 game)

Sat 13:00 2.Bundesliga (3 games)
Sat 14:00 3.Liga (most games)
Sat 15:30 Bundesliga (5 games)
Sat 18:30 Bundesliga (1 game)


Sun 13:30 2.Bundesliga (3 games) / Bundesliga (1 game, only 5 per season)
Sun 14:00 3.Liga (usually 1 or 2 games)
Sun 15:30 Bundesliga (1 game)
Sun 18:00 Bundesliga (1 game)


Mon 20:30 2.Bundesliga (1 game) / Bundesliga (1 game, only 5 per season)
You could combine a match in the Rühr with a match in Standard Liège and in PSV Eindhoven. 1 to 1 1/2 hour radius by car. 3 clubs 3 countries in a week-end.
spoonman
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Post by spoonman »

Yeah, that's a possibility. If you catch a Bundesliga game on Monday, you could also include Luxembourg on the weekend, so 4 countries in 4 days. Maybe even 5 countries, with a quick trip to Metz.
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Post by Duketown »

jmf wrote:
spoonman wrote: In the Rhine-Ruhr area, you could watch up to 5 professional games on one weekend, from Friday to Monday:
Dortmund
Schalke
Bochum
Duisburg
Mönchengladbach
Düsseldorf
Leverkusen
Köln
You could combine a match in the Rühr with a match in Standard Liège and in PSV Eindhoven. 1 to 1 1/2 hour radius by car. 3 clubs 3 countries in a week-end.
That area is stacked with clubs. You can add
VVV Venlo
Roda JC Kerkrade
MVV Maastricht
NEC Nijmegen
Genk (Belgium)

All within max. 3 hour drive. I wouldn't include PSV in this trip but a would add that to a separate Eredivisie trip. But above clubs make more sense to include in Ruhrgebied trip.
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Forza AZ
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Post by Forza AZ »

jmf wrote:You could combine a match in the Rühr with a match in Standard Liège and in PSV Eindhoven. 1 to 1 1/2 hour radius by car. 3 clubs 3 countries in a week-end.
In stead of PSV you can also choose Roda JC (if they won't get relegated), MVV (if they get promoted) or VVV Venlo.
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55footballnations
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Post by 55footballnations »

Thanks again for the helpful tips. My route will become clearer when the football fixtures are published for the remaining 42 leagues in the summer. In the meantime, I've written a short post on football crowds in the 55 football nations (http://www.55footballnations.com/2017/0 ... he-tension)

I'm guessing match tickets should be available for most clubs/countries with a little planning and perhaps some local contacts to help? It would be helpful to know what the rules are with taking a DSLR camera into grounds without media accreditation. I'm thinking only the major Western European leagues may object?
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AlanK
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Post by AlanK »

55footballnations wrote:Thanks again for the helpful tips. My route will become clearer when the football fixtures are published for the remaining 42 leagues in the summer. In the meantime, I've written a short post on football crowds in the 55 football nations (http://www.55footballnations.com/2017/0 ... he-tension)

I'm guessing match tickets should be available for most clubs/countries with a little planning and perhaps some local contacts to help? It would be helpful to know what the rules are with taking a DSLR camera into grounds without media accreditation. I'm thinking only the major Western European leagues may object?
Go to Barcelona if possible--but it's pretty spendy; a good covered seat at the Camp Nou for a medium-strength opponent in the league runs 150 euros or so; the "cheap" seats usually start around 75 euros. If you go to a game against Valencia, 85,000-90,000 are pretty much assured. "Small" crowds run 50,000-65,000. You can get tickets on the internet at fcbarcelona.com. And if you go to see the cross-town rival, Espanyol, you can always (almost :wink: ) get good seats at the stadium on the day of the game. Don't pay anybody's markup on tickets :!: If you try for a game such as Barça-Real Madrid (the "Clásico"--forget it, you'd pay scalper's prices.

Barça's museum is a huge draw. Haven't gone myself, but everybody says it's great. Costs about 28 euros.

Will try to answer any specific questions you might have.
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Post by Kutuz_off »

OP - I think you should consider hitting 2nd (or even lower in larger countries) tier leagues while you're at it. It won't cost that much extra, they play on alternate days often, and you should get a better overall picture of football "nations".
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55footballnations
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Post by 55footballnations »

Kutuz_off wrote:OP - I think you should consider hitting 2nd (or even lower in larger countries) tier leagues while you're at it. It won't cost that much extra, they play on alternate days often, and you should get a better overall picture of football "nations".
Sure - will try to see some other games (and certainly in England where I support a second division team!) but my main aim is a minimum of one game in the top division of each of the 55 football nations.
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Post by spoonman »

@55footballnations

FYI: Fixture lists for Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga will be released on 29th June. Precise dates and kick-off times will follow by and by, usually after CL/EL draws.

http://www.bundesliga.com/en/news/Bunde ... 445265.jsp
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55footballnations
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Post by 55footballnations »

Thanks for your help to date. I'm currently 8 football nations in (Georgia, Iceland, Faroe Islands, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Kazakhstan) with Russia to come next weekend.

Paul Doyle in the Guardian wrote a nice little piece about my adventure.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... -adventure
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