5 of the weirdest and most wonderful football stadiums in Europe
- Will Lancaster
- Mar 24, 2019
- 4 min read
Year upon year, without fail, one of the most sought-after dates on a football fans’ calendar is
Fixture Release Day.
Fans of all teams endlessly gossip about many scenarios; who they’ll be drawn against on the opening day of the
season, which teams they’d like to play in the end of season run-in, which grounds they would like to
tick off over the course of the year and, most importantly for some, the dates on which their local rivals come to town. But there are some fixtures that make you sit up and think 'how on earth am I going to get there?'
Will Lancaster takes a look at 5 grounds with weird and wonderful locations that should definitely be put on the ultimate football fans’ bucket list:
5) Clube Desportivo Santa Clara
There is no better place to kick off our list than the ‘Estadio de Sao Miguel’ - home to C.D. Santa Clara of Portugal.
The 13,500-capacity ground is based in the Azores islands, and lies a quarter of the way between Portugal and
Florida – with an incredible 976 miles between themselves and mainland Portugal. Santa Clara are the only team from the tiny island to ever compete in the top division of Portuguese football and incredibly have also competed in a UEFA Competition – the much forgotten about Intertoto Cup.
‘Os Açoreanos’ are the latest addition to a Portuguese league already filled with bizarre grounds and locations. Formerly, fans of the ‘Liga NOS’ – Portugal’s top-flight – were wowed by the fact that CS Maritimo and CD Nacional came from the small fishing island of Madeira.
However, Santa Clara’s success in the 2017/18 second division meant that an even bigger distance was to be traveled by the majority of fans looking for an unforgettable away day in 2018/19. It certainly is one to tick off for the avid football fan, eh?
4) TSG 1899 Hoffenheim
Next, we visit a team who will be much more familiar to football fans across the world. Hoffenheim's rise to the top is one of various short-term successes: at the turn of the millennium, Hoffenheim were in the 5th tier of the German football– but a meteoric rise saw them gain promotion to the Bundesliga in just under 8 seasons.
Since then, the club has gone from strength to strength – even playing in their first European game in 2017/18 and qualifying for the UEFA Champions League in 2018/19.
This is especially impressive, nonetheless, given that Hoffenheim is a German village of just 3,272 people. The ground itself; the Rhein-Neckar Arena, is situated in nearby Sinsheim, which is home to 35,000 people. This is still incredibly small for a German top-flight team – by contrast the plucky Lancastrian town of Burnley is three times larger.
However, there are reasons for Hoffenheim’s incredible achievements given their small stature as a club. Dietmar Hopp, a nearby entrepreneur, bankrolled the team in the early 2000’s, which led to their domination of the lower leagues and ultimately their promotion.
For the traditionalist football fan, this is a club that is condemned in the same way as Red Bull Leipzig or MK Dons. However, for an away day as niche as Hoffenheim – especially if a large away support took over the village – it may just have to be paid a visit.
3) Chester F.C.
It wouldn’t be a 3PM News article without a lower-league English team cropping up onto the list, would it?
There are various quirky grounds across the nation – Forest Green Rovers and their “New Lawn” ground, which is focused entirely on its veganism, or even Aberdeen’s “Pittodrie” - a stadium which is literally a 'shithole', having been built on an old manure site.
But, it is a small ground in the north of England that has captured our imaginations, the Deva Stadium in Chester.
On the face of it, the Deva Stadium doesn’t appear to be anything out of the ordinary – just a typically boring run-of-the-mill National League ground.
Yet a quick trip to Google Maps proves that this is not your ordinary stadium. Despite their heated rivalry with Welsh side Wrexham, Chester boast the unusual title of having their ground in two different countries. Their Main Stand touchline and seating area crossing over the border of Wales. How utterly bizzare!
2) Berwick Rangers
Following on from the English-Wales border that covers Chester, there is another team that incidentally follows the same trend. Berwick-upon-Tweed is a small market town in Northumberland, which holds the title of being the most northernly town in England and is home to Berwick Rangers FC.
Because of the club's close proximity with the Scottish border - just 2.5 miles - the Berwick board took the decision to enter the team into the Scottish leagues.
Unfortunately for them, the decision to play in the lesser-developed Scottish League was probably correct in the end, with the club enduring a poor season in 2017/18 – finishing third bottom in the fourth tier of the game.
For our hardcore Scottish football fans looking for a fixture that would be a stretch to get to – especially fans of Peterhead, who would have to travel an 8 hour round trip to watch their side – then Sheffield Park must be the 'crème de la crème' of away days.
1) Henningsvaer IL
Rounding up our list of strange geographical grounds is a stadium that will take your breath away; situated in the idyllic Lofoten islands in Norway, the Henningsvaer Idrettslag Stadion is a ground nestled in the middle of a minute fishing village in Western Norway.
The stadium rose to fame in 2013, when following the increase in consumer drone photography, UEFA
spotted the ground and decided its location was perfect to shoot an advert upon.
Since then the ground – home to local amateur team Henningsvaer IL – has been added to many a football fans bucket list – although the ground itself does only hold a capacity of 500 people. An absolute gem for any football fan looking for an unusual away day and if you ever manage to visit this ground, then send your photos in and have a pint on us – because this is the hardest pilgrimage to a beautiful ground in world football.
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