By Tom Kenyon, Sport and Fitness
The countdown to the 2018 Champion’s League final has well and truly begun and on Saturday night the Olimpiyskiy stadium in Kiev will be filled to its utmost with walls of 70,000 red and white fans… Spare a moment for the person that tries to tell them that football’s just a game!
With ticket prices for tomorrow’s final reaching incredible heights of £1,500 and direct flights to Kiev costing an arm and a leg, one Liverpool fan has opted out of the direct route to take a cheaper and slightly diverted approach around Europe. Rameez Tahir will be travelling through Sweden, Latvia, Ukraine and Lithuania (for roughly £610) just to watch the Reds for 90 minutes.
If you thought it’s impossible to have more commitment than that, you’d be mistaken. So below we’ve listed some of the most ludicrous lengths fans have gone to, to support their team.
Longest league away day in the world
Russian fans are well known for their football support and back in March, a handful of Baltika Kaliningrad fans made the 13,000-mile round trip (14-hour flight each way) to watch their team face Luch Vladivostok… only to witness a game to forget, a 0-0 draw.
Choosing between tying the knot and match day
One Stoke City fan decided to have both. In front of 28,000 fans, Levi Stones surprised his fiancé by having their ceremony at half-time against Spurs, only for amused fans to chant, “You don’t know what you’re doing!”
Support behind enemy lines
One word to describe this action… brave. However, this is exactly what Spurs fan, Charlie Parish, did when visiting Upton Park, which would probably make the top three in a list of stadiums you would not recommend doing this at.
Football comes first, NO exceptions
Peter Bolton, 60, can only be described as a super-fan, having not missed a Manchester United game since 1974. Peter has not only witnessed all games on UK soil but also travelled to the likes of Asia and Australia to watch his beloved Red Devils… even if it is only pre-season!
