London Futbol
 

My hubby is a futbol fan and would love to go to a futbol game while we are in London. We are arriving in Heathrow the morning of the 3oth in March 2011. Any ideas on sites I can check for this info? If there aren't any games, any ideas on shops to shop for futbol shirts, futbol bars,etc.

Since no-one's answered this...

I'm no expert, but this looks like a good place to start:

http://www.fussballinlondon.de/fixtures_eng.php

A lot of pubs, particularly out of the centre, will have TVs of big matches - keep an eye out for signs outside.

If you want to see a premiership game you need to check the fixtures for each of the main London clubs. These are:

Arsenal
Chelsea
Tottenham
Fulham
West Ham

You arrive on a Wednesday, so it depends how long you are in London for. The main fixtures are usually played on a Saturday or Sunday. Be aware that in the main, you cannot buy tickets on the day of a game and need to visit the ground of your choice to buy tickets (if indeed they are available, depending on the opposition).

Arsenal are at home to Blackburn, so quite a good chance
Fulham are home to Blackpool, but it's a small ground
West Ham are currently scheduled to play Manchester United that weekend. Tickets will be like gold dust.

lthomas:

West Ham U - Manchester U: forget it! Will sell out to members within hours.

Arsenal - Blackburn R: Arsenal tickets rarely, if ever, go on general sale. Minimal chance. Check Arsenal's website at:
www.arsenal.com

Fulham - Blackpool: Fulham has a relatively small stadium (25'000 seats) but rarely sells out. Your best bet. Check Fulham's site at:
www.fulhamfc.com

Good luck. Enjoy your trip.

Phil.

In England, they play football.

You may be better off going to a lower division match -- there's no chance you could get a West Ham/ManYoo ticket for any reasonable price (and face value prices are high) from a tout (scalper). You won't be able to land Arsenal tickets without a lot of effort.

The second level (Coca-Cola Championship) has about 4-5 teams in the London area. ESPN.com has good soccer information, as does goal.com.

www.football-league.co.uk about league (non-Premiere League) football with links to official sites. See under Match and Fixures.

You do realise that this subject is a religion to some people so while spelling it in a wierd way may amuse you it merely sends those, whose religion has been mocked, scurrying to the wings. I might try with with a new start and see if you can draw the experts out.

Yours in ....

Bilbo

Indeed, Bilbo, the title confused me somewhat. I wondered if 'futbol' was a specialised game I hadn't come across.

But if the OP means 'football', then I can answer as follows:

This site links you to the fixture list for the premier league: http://www.premierleague.com/page/Fi...,12306,00.html
Note that the first team is each game is the home team (i.e., where the game is being played) and the London teams to look out for are:

Arsenal
Fulham
Chelsea
West Ham United
Tottenham Hotspur.

Arsenal, Chelsea (and to some extent Tottenham) are extremely popular and hard to buy tickets for. Any game where the opposition is Manchester United and possibly Liverpool will also be hard to buy for. Any game which is a 'London Derby' (i.e. 2 London teams playing against each other) will be similarly hard to buy for.

With that difficulty over, in order to buy tickets you should approach the home side (look up ticket on each club's own website). Tickets are normally only released at relatively short notice (2-3 weeks before the game, I think).

For authentic football shirts, avoid market stalls and buy from sports retailers – the shirts will have a premier league authentication label attached to them. Nike and Adidas sponsor many of the major teams and both have large stores on Oxford Street selling all the authentic kit.

For watching games, there are relatively few dedicated sports bars as, in the UK, most bar and sports-watching life revolves around pubs. Many pubs show the games on large screens and will advertise games on posters or blackboards outside on the day (or a few days before).