Off to Partizan

Almajir wrote the following two articles on his blog during this month. I thought you may like to read them. They are published here with his permission.

Part 1 Posted on March 18, 2011 by almajir

With Blues in the Europa League next season, I thought it might be fun to look at some potential opponents from the teams that like us, have already qualified. I hereby bring you part one in a series I’m calling “Off to Partizan…”

Strømsgodset IF

The first team I thought I could look at was Strømsgodset IF (with a nod to Polo from smallheathalliance). Like us, they have already qualified for the third qualifying round of the Europa League by virtue of winning their fifth Cupen, with a 2-0 victory over Follo FK in last November’s final.

Godset, as they are known to their friends hail from the Norwegian city of Drammen, which is just outside the capital Oslo. They play their games at the 7,500 capacity Marienlyst Stadion, a small three sided ground near the centre of town.

Godset have not had much luck against English teams in the past; their last adventure in Europe was in the 98/99 UEFA Cup where they went out 6-2 on aggregate in the first round to some little known team from one of the dingier suburbs of Birmingham. Indeed, four of the seven ventures into continental football have met heavy defeat to an English opponent – maybe a good omen should we draw them.

Fans of no-frill airlines will be pleased to know that Ryanair fly from Liverpool to Sandefjord; as you’d come to expect from Ryanair Sandefjord is as close to Drammen as Liverpool is to Birmingham; Oslo airport is closer, and has direct flights to Manchester, Gatwick and Heathrow. Unfortunately, beer is supposed to be around £6 a pint in Drammen, so it might not be the best city for a bit of a drink.

EB/Streymur

Looking at the qualifiers for the second qualifying round, my eyes alit on EB/Streymur. The little team from the Faeroes qualified for Europe by beating ÍF Fuglafjørður 1-0 in the final of the 2010 Løgmanssteypið (Faeroe Islands Cup), and should they win their first European tie might face the glory of a trip to Small Heath.

EB/Streymur play at a tiny ground that holds just 1000 fans, and as such they would be more likely to host a European tie at one of the bigger grounds in Toftir or Torshavn, much as they did in the 2008 qualifying rounds. It’s a bit disappointing for those of us who like to visit tiny grounds, but the upside would be a tie which could accomodate more than a dozen away supporters – although even the bigger grounds on the islands will only hold 5,000 max.

The Faeroes are a bit of a bugger to get to unfortunately, with only one airport in the whole territory. That airport offers seasonal flights to Stansted; barring a charter it’s going to be either a lengthy journey via Denmark or Norway. Again, like many Scandinavian countries it’s expensive to go drinking in Torshavn, with a pint costing around the fiver mark – so whilst EB might be the choice of afficionadoes of tiny teams, it’s not the best for a boy’s trip away.

FC Irtysh

One of the teams who are already qualified for the first qualifying round is Kazakh team FC Irtysh, of Pavlodar. They would face two ties before pulling out the big guns in royal blue, but anything is possible in European competition.

FC Irtysh are in the competition by virtue of having finished 3rd in the 2010 Kazakhstan Premier League, and are one of the few (maybe only) teams to have participated in the Asian and European Champions Leagues.

Irtysh play at a 15,000 capacity stadium in Pavlodar called Centralny, and as you can see from the picture it’s uncovered and very stereotypical of how I would expect a stadium to look like from that part of the world.

Pavlodar is served by a small international airport, and it would be a fair old schlep to get there, with stopovers required at a minimum in either Minsk, St Petersburg or Moscow. Pavlodar is in North Eastern Kazakhstan, and is pretty close to the Chinese border – how it qualifies as Europe is as tenuous as Tony Cascarino’s Irishness. I wouldn’t order a Guiness here either; I’ve seen reports of it being $12 a pint. Maybe the local stuff is cheaper?

Obviously, this is all a long way off, but it’s something I’ve wanted all my life, and I’m going to make the most of looking forwards to it. As more teams qualify, I’ll bring you more samples of what our European adventure could bring.

Part 2 Posted on March 25, 2011 by almajir

With Blues not playing this weekend, I thought it might be nice to continue my series of articles looking at teams we might face in next year’s Europa League.

Lokomotiv Moscow

FC Lokomotiv Moscow qualified for the Third Qualifying round of the 2011/2012 Europa League by virtue of finishing fifth in the Russian Premier League in 2010. Loko, as they’re known to the fans are one of four Moscow teams currently in the RPL (Saturn having disbanded in 2010), and have recently emerged from the shadow of Spartak Moscow to win the RPL in 2002 and 2004.

Loko play in the 28,000 capacity Lokomotiv Stadium, on the north eastern outskirts of the Russian Capital. The stadium, once derided by fans as a “flying saucer” is now seen as one of the best in Russia, and has been the home ground for the Russian National team.

Pic www.stadiumguide.com

Away fans are seated in the Northern stand, directly opposite the Lokomotiv ultras, and judging by the proximity of the local metro stop it’s fairly easy to reach from the centre of Moscow. Whilst you can fly direct to Moscow from Gatwick, Lufthansa offer cheap flights from Birmingham, with a stop in Dusseldorf. It’s not that expensive either, at £250ish currently to book flights to Moscow. Moscow has changed somewhat since I visited nearly eighteen years ago, and it’s no longer as much of a problem to get a visa. If you’re looking for a drink, the advice is that it’s cheaper in the suburbs than in the city centre; prices can vary from a couple of quid to ten plus in centre of Moscow. Of course, there is always the local delicacy, vodka…

Sligo Rovers

Of course, European competition could mean a short hop across the Irish sea to a team in the Republic, such as Sligo Rovers. Sligo are in the second qualifying round by virtue of winning the 2010 FAI Cup on penalties against Shamrock Rovers. Of course, this means The Bit o’ Red need to win their first tie to pull us in the next round, but it’s possible – although they cannot rely on penalty takers for the opposition being as bad as Shamrock, who missed every one of their four in the cup final shootout.

Sligo play in the 5,500 capacity Showgrounds, in the eastern part of Sligo Town. The ground has only in the last few years met the regulations for Europa League football, with the car park having to be fully tarmacked and the installation of seating to take the seated capacity to 2,700.

As Sligo Airport is ending it’s only service (which is to Dublin) in July, it looks like Sligo will be a coach/car and ferry trip. Sligo is 135 miles away from Dublin, which means a few hours of enjoying the Irish countryside – but in saying that it’s probably an easier trip than Azerbaijan would be. They’ve got a fair few pubs too, which someone has conveniently listed for us here.

Tromsø IL

Fans of cold weather and the Arctic circle will be hoping that Norwegian team Tromsø make it through the first two qualifying rounds to face off against Blues. Gutan, as the locals know them are in the first qualifying round of the Europa League due to their finishing third in the 2010 Norwegian Premier League. Blues fans will also be pleased to know that the current Tromsø captain is former Blues legend (used in the loosest possible sense of the word) Sigurd Rushfeldt.

Tromsø play in the 7,500 capacity Alfheim stadium, based in the town of Tromsø, which itself is on an island (Tromsøya) in one of the northern Norwegian fjords. It’s a huge pitch, measuring 110 metres by 70 (Blues is a mere 100 by 66), and as Tromsø is about as far north as you can get before you start hitting Arctic ice, it’s laid with artificial turf.

Tromsø could be a bit of a nightmare to get to; as the direct flights from Gatwick to Tromsø airport finish in March of next year, it’s going to necessitate a stopover. There are no one stopover flights from Birmingham currently listed on Expedia, so it’s going to be a trip to London to fly from Heathrow, with a stop in Oslo or hoping that a charter flight is put on. Coupled with beers costing £6 a pint, it might not be the best of away trips.

There will be another installment of the series in a week; if you have any suggestions as to what to look into, I’m all ears.