Artist's impression of Valencia's new stadium if it ever gets completed. please log in to view this image
All-English Champions League final, all-English Europa League final, England one of the faves in the Women's World Cup, England men's team in the Nations League... Football's coming home
Good luck to those wanting to get to the Europa final. What a crap idea to hold it there. How to get to Baku? There are currently no direct scheduled flights between London and Baku in the week of the final. If you want to fly to the game on the day then a lengthy wait in somewhere like Istanbul or Kiev would be needed. The quickest journey by air on the day of the final takes six hours 55 minutes, with the majority lasting more than 10 hours. The only way to fly direct to Baku for the game would be to leave London on the Saturday beforehand and return a week later, three days after the trophy has been lifted. It takes more than four days to travel from London to Baku on the train and involve 11 changes and a two-day train from Kharkiv in Ukraine to Baku. To drive takes 58 hours. Without breaks.
Baku is hosting some of the Euro 2020 matches too. ****ing ridiculous. Some of the cities not hosting games at Euro 2020: Cardiff, Lisbon, Brussels, Bern, Vienna, Stockholm, Oslo, Prague, Warsaw among others. I get not having any French cities as they hosted in 2016, but Baku is a ****ing joke.
Personally speaking I think it's a phenomenal achievement that 4 English Clubs will contest the 2 respective finals!!! The feel good factor could also rub off onto the national side too....no bad thing in my book.
Have done a tour of the Mestalla and would love to go to a match there, it looks like the atmosphere would be incredible - the crowd really on top of the pitch. Valencia is a nice holiday destination too if you want a city break with a beach. Can see why the Nevilles took to it.
I agree Ric, a great advert for the English game, and if England can pull off a win in Portugal next month, that really would be the icing on the cake.