Euro Qualifier Away Locations

[superunknown]

So like a lot of you I've been thinking about some of the tasty away days we could have next year in the Euro qualifiers. As most of us who booked Denmark straight away will realise, the away team don't always play where you expect them to. So I've compiled a list of all the teams we could potentially draw and the stadiums they've used for the World Cup qualifiers and Nations League games so far with their capacity so anyone looking at booking can use as a reference. Please take them with a pinch of salt as all are naturally subject to change. 

I've used this as a ranking guide so I've excluded anyone we definitely can't draw (Russia, Bosnia and Ukraine) and teams we're very unlikely to draw (Denmark, Iceland and Austria). www.football-rankings.info/2018/10/2020-uefa-euro-qualification-seeding.html?m=1

For teams with multiple locations I've put the max capacity and the team they played against. 

Without further ado, the list:

Pot 1:

France - Stade de France, Paris (80,698) - Most games. One game against Luxembourg in Toulouse (33,150).
Belgium - King Badouin Stadium, Brussels (50,093) - Most games. One game in Liege (27,670) against Gibraltar. 
Portugal - Multiple locations. This changes every game and has included Aveiro (Andorra, 32,830), Faro (Latvia, 30,305), Estadio da Luz, Lisbon (Hungary; Italy, 64,642), Estadio de Bessa, Porto (Faroe Islands, 28,263), Guimaraes (Poland,30,000). Generally the bigger games are in Lisbon but no guarantee. 
Spain - Multiple locations. Again changes every game and has included Leon (Liechtenstein, 13,346), Granada (Macedonia, 22,369), Gijon (Israel, 29,029), Bernabeu, Madrid (Italy, 81,044), Alicante (Albania, 29,500), Elche (Croatia, 33,732), Seville (England, 63,720).
Switzerland - Again multiple locations and changes most games. Basel (Portugal; Hungary, 42,450),  Luzern (Faroes; Belgium, 16,800), Geneva (Latvia, 30,084), St Gallen (Andorra; Iceland, 19,694). I'd take a guess and say we'd play in Basel for a qualifier.
England - Wembley Stadium, London (90,000) - All games.
Italy - Multiple locations. Juventus Stadium, Turin (Spain, 41,507), Palermo (Albania, 36,349), Udine (Liechtenstein, 25,144), Reggio Emilia (Israel, 24,717), Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino, Turin (Macedonia, 27,958), Bologna (Poland, 38,279), San Siro, Milan (Portugal, 80,018). 
Netherlands - Games are either played at De Kuip, Rotterdam (51,117) or the Amsterdam Arena, Amsterdam (54,990). 
Croatia - Most games are played at Maksimir Stadium, Zagreb (35,423). Two games have been played at Rijeka (Finland; England, 8,297). 
Poland - Most games played at Stadion Narodowy, Warsaw (56,826), Nations League games played in Chorzow (55,211).


Pot 3: 

Turkey - Multiple locations. Konya (Ukraine; Sweden, 37,829), Antalya (Kosovo; Finland, 32,537), Eskesehir (Croatia; Iceland, 34,930), Trabzon (Russia, 43,223). 
Slovakia - Stadion Antona Malatinskeho, Trnava (19,200) - All games. 
Northern Ireland - Windsor Park, Belfast (18,434) - All games. 
Republic of Ireland - Aviva Stadium, Dublin (51,700) - All games. 
Finland - All games played at either Turku (9,372) or Tampere (16,800). 
Bulgaria - Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia (44,000) - All games. 
Serbia - All games played at either Red Star Stadium, Belgrade (55,538) or Partizan Stadium, Belgrade (32,710). Mainly Red Star. 
Scotland - Hampden Park, Glasgow (51,866) - All games. 
Norway - Ullevaal Stadium, Oslo (28,000) - All games. 
Israel - Most games played at either Haifa (30,780) or Jerusalem (32,000). One game in the NL played at Be'er Sheva (Albania, 16,126). 

Pot 4: 

Greece - All WC qualifiers were played in Piraeus (32,115). Olympic Stadium, Athens (69,618) was used for the Nations League games. Indications games will probably be played in Athens going forward. 
Romania - Multiple locations. Cluj (Montengro; Denmark 30,201), Bucharest (Poland; Armenia; Serbia, 55,634), Ploiesti (Kazakhstan; Montenegro, 15,073). 
Montenegro - City Stadium, Podgorica (15,230) - All games. 
Hungary - Groupama Arena, Budapest (23,698) - All games. 
Albania - All games played either at Shkoder (16,000) or Elbasan (12,800). 
Cyprus - GSP Stadium, Nicosia (22,859) - All games. 
Slovenia - Stozice Stadium, Ljubljana (16,038) - All games. 
Estonia - A. Le Coq Arena, Tallinn (14,405) - All games. 
Lithuania - LFF Stadium, Vilnius (5,067) - All games. 
Georgia - Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena, Tbilisi (54,549) - All games. 

Pot 5: 

FYR Macedonia - Most games played at the Phillip II Arena, Skopje (34,460). Two smaller games (Liechtenstein, Albania) were played at Stadion Mladost, Strumica (9,200). 
Kosovo - All WC qualifiers were played in Albania's Shkoder stadium (16,000). NL games were played in Pristina (13,500). 
Belarus - All WC qualifiers were played at Borisov Arena, Barysaw (13,126). NL games were played at Dinamo Stadium, Minsk (22,000). 
Luxembourg - Stade Josy Barthel, Luxembourg City (8,125) - All games. 
Armenia - Republican Stadium, Yerevan (14,403) - All games. 
Azerbaijan - All games played in Baku at three different stadiums. Mainly the Olympic Stadium (69,700). Tofiq Bahramov Republican Stadium (31,200), Bakcell Arena (11,000). 
Moldova - Zimbru Stadium, Chisinau (10,400) - All games. 
Kazakhstan - Mainly played at the Astana Arena, Astana (30,244). One game played at Almaty (Denmark, 23,804). 
Gibraltar - Played all WC qualifier games at Portugal's Estadio Algarve in Faro (30,305). NL games played at the Victoria Stadium in Gibraltar (2,000). 
Faroe Islands - Torsvollur, Torshavn (6,000) - All games. 

Pot 6:

Latvia - All WC qualifiers played at Skonto Stadium, Riga (9,500). All NL games played at Daugava Stadium, Riga (10,461). 
Malta - National Stadium, Ta' Qali (16,997) - All games.
Liechtenstein - Rheinpark Stadion, Vaduz (7,584) - All games. 
Andorra - Estadi Nacional, Andorra la Vella (3,306) - All games. 
San Marino - San Marino Stadium, Serravalle (6,664) - All games. 

[mattyd]

Excellent work!

[eppingblue]

Worse than I thought. New Budapest ground wont be ready. Not sure about the Helsinki refurbishment, due to open next year but doesn't say when. There's an awful lot of grounds there where the allocation could be south of a thousand and probably two thirds will be less than 2,000.  

[gwernybwch]

FANTASTIC post! Must have taken you ages to go through that.

[superunknown]

Nov 13, 2018 12:45:37 GMT eppingblue said:

Worse than I thought. New Budapest ground wont be ready. Not sure about the Helsinki refurbishment, due to open next year but doesn't say when. There's an awful lot of grounds there where the allocation could be south of a thousand and probably two thirds will be less than 2,000.  

You've gotta remember that most of the home teams in lower pots will rarely fill the stadium (even to see Gareth Bale) so the FAW can push for more tickets if the home fans don't take them up. 

[phillywelsh83]

Nice work! Really helpful for when watching the draw and trying figure out the draw we want!

[superunknown]

Nov 13, 2018 12:46:27 GMT gwernybwch said:

FANTASTIC post! Must have taken you ages to go through that.

Haha must have been a few hours in total yeah. Just did a few teams every time I had a bit of a lull in work. 

[zenith]

Brilliant post. Thank you for that!

[georgeberrysheadband]

Excellent work

[eppingblue]

Nov 13, 2018 12:48:56 GMT superunknown said:

Nov 13, 2018 12:45:37 GMT eppingblue said:

Worse than I thought. New Budapest ground wont be ready. Not sure about the Helsinki refurbishment, due to open next year but doesn't say when. There's an awful lot of grounds there where the allocation could be south of a thousand and probably two thirds will be less than 2,000.  

You've gotta remember that most of the home teams in lower pots will rarely fill the stadium (even to see Gareth Bale) so the FAW can push for more tickets if the home fans don't take them up. 

That's got to be the hope although we're not great getting extra tickets even in empty stadiums. As you say many don't get any where near capacity .I see even Bulgaria had 8 and 10 thousand for home games in a 40k thousand plus stadium. So there's hope

[cymroircarn]

Diolch - must have taken you ages!

Can you now update with away allocation to each? 😜

[manulike]

Excellent work.
Spent a whole week last year in Yerevan, before the Georgia match.
They have a spectacular 55k stadium as well - surely, if Bale and Ramsey are coming to town, they will have the match there?

[superunknown]

Nov 13, 2018 13:04:05 GMT manulike said:

Excellent work.
Spent a whole week last year in Yerevan, before the Georgia match.
They have a spectacular 55k stadium as well - surely, if Bale and Ramsey are coming to town, they will have the match there?

Ah I didn't realise that. Yeah just had a quick search and they haven't played in it since a WC qualifier in 2014 against Italy. Hopefully they'd make an exception for Brooks and co. 

[welwyn]

I'd imagine Kosovo's games will now all be in Pristina, as I think their games were only in Albania until they were allowed to play games at home.

[mattyd]

There were a few teams I hoped we would draw (e.g Lithuania, Luxembourg & Andorra) that now look a bit less appealing judging by the likely allocation. I would get nowhere the near the game!

On another note, Netherlands looks an appealing Pot 1 draw to me - still not been... Big stadium, likely to be in Amsterdam and winnable

[mattyd]

Any teams people want to avoid based on this?

[superunknown]

Nov 13, 2018 13:30:51 GMT mattyd said:

Any teams people want to avoid based on this?

Lithuania. I'm on 8 aways and I think even I'd struggle with that one. Romania would be a good one allocation wise but a tougher draw. Balancing act here isn't it. 

[mattyd]

Nov 13, 2018 13:40:41 GMT superunknown said:

Nov 13, 2018 13:30:51 GMT mattyd said:

Any teams people want to avoid based on this?

Lithuania. I'm on 8 aways and I think even I'd struggle with that one. Romania would be a good one allocation wise but a tougher draw. Balancing act here isn't it. 

Definitely a balancing act. Romania is a good shout - uncertainty of location in the country though.

I think the ideal Pot 4 opponent might be Hungary, thye're not playing well either.  I'm game! 

[Deleted]

Finland doesn’t seem a great capacity. Fancy there.

[eppingblue]

Nov 13, 2018 14:38:36 GMT @peoffrey said:

Finland doesn’t seem a great capacity. Fancy there.

Fantastic trip there in 2002. They normally use the Olympic stadium in Helsinki which used to have a capacity of 40+ thousand. Its being refurbished at the moment and is due to open next year with a reduced capacity. Not sure if it will be reopened for this qualifying though.

[Deleted]

I've a mate over in Helsinki so I was looking forwards to seeing him. Huge fan of Denmark and Sweden already.

[cantonwelsh79]

Nov 13, 2018 13:27:00 GMT mattyd said:

There were a few teams I hoped we would draw (e.g Lithuania, Luxembourg & Andorra) that now look a bit less appealing judging by the likely allocation. I would get nowhere the near the game!

On another note, Netherlands looks an appealing Pot 1 draw to me - still not been... Big stadium, likely to be in Amsterdam and winnable

Andorra wouldn't be a problem getting a ticket - Although tiny, when we last played there, there was almost no interest from the locals. Pretty sure they were giving them out free to home fans.

They'd better build bigger walls if we leave it til the last minute again though!!

[sleepy]

France played Luxembourg in a WC2018 qualifier in Toulouse

Remember Denmark played all their games in Copenhagen!

[superunknown]

Nov 13, 2018 18:39:07 GMT sleepy said:

France played Luxembourg in a WC2018 qualifier in Toulouse

Remember Denmark played all their games in Copenhagen!

Must have missed that one cheers. Think it’s safe to say we’d play them in Paris if we drew them haha.

[sleepy]

Nov 13, 2018 18:54:36 GMT superunknown said:

Nov 13, 2018 18:39:07 GMT sleepy said:

France played Luxembourg in a WC2018 qualifier in Toulouse

Remember Denmark played all their games in Copenhagen!

Must have missed that one cheers. Think it’s safe to say we’d play them in Paris if we drew them haha.

Yes I bloody hope so. I love the Eurostar.

[erasedcitizen]

Deleted a few unnecessary postings, play nice.

[holmesdaleultra]

Great research bro.

Being english LOL Wembley ain,t to far away but then again it might be quicker t get t Scotland or Ireland or even Paris with the public transport around here TFL and strikes.

[cymruramdcfc]

Have I missed something? Was I going on about derby to much again 😎

[erasedcitizen]

Nov 13, 2018 21:33:22 GMT cymruramdcfc said:

Have I missed something? Was I going on about derby to much again 😎

Talk about Derby all you like.

[cymruramdcfc]

you can see the tickets being limited for pot 5 and 6 and maybe 4.... i knew i should have harvested an Albania ticket doh