Football starts today!!!
Otherwise known as soccer to most Americans
One of my favorite traditions that we’ve started during our travels is attending a local football match! To experience the game day tradition is one of the best ways to learn about the local culture and passions. What better way to learn about a people and a city than to be a part of something they love and are passionate about! We just love it and I highly recommend it! Our first match was in Austria and was probably the biggest match we’ve attended so far. It was an exhilarating tie between Austria and France’s national teams in the UEFA Nations League.
As you can see, it doesn’t even matter where your seats are! It’s really about soaking in the whole atmosphere, the chants, the flags, the taunts, and the announcer… all in a different language. For someone like me who has attended hundreds of live sporting events in America, seeing all this in a foreign country is mesmerizing. Not just the game either, but the commute there and back is all part of the fun! We always walk and/or use public transit to get to and fro, and that can be an experience in itself. We’ve stopped at pubs, been caught up in an LGBTQ parade, hit the food trucks, and just generally follow around the fans we find wearing the home team’s colors and do what they do.
Even a mediocre team in a lower-tier league like The Hearts of Midlothian in Edinburgh can be a highlight of a trip… and they don’t even sell beer in any stadium in Scotland! (On account of their fondness for fisticuffs.)
This year we are going to a LaLiga match between Atlético Madrid and Villarreal. I’ve already bought our tickets and our kits, so we are ready! I can’t wait to share the great experience we are bound to have at this year’s football match!!!