J’aime.
Excitement for Euro ’16 is building as Irish fans are eagerly awaiting a reply from UEFA regarding the status of their ticket applications. It’s reported that up to 275,000 tickets have already been applied for by the green army and the allocation for the matches in Paris, Bordeaux and Lille are as follows.
Republic of Ireland v Sweden – 16,487 – Stade De France, Paris.
Belgium v Republic of Ireland – 7,495 – Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux, Bordeaux.
Italy v Republic of Ireland – 9,720 – Stade Pierre-Mauroy, Lille.
Here’s a little bit of info on the grounds along with a brief glimpse at the stadiums, better known as the the promised land for Irish football fans travelling to France this June.
Stade De France, Saint Denis – Paris
Fixture: Sweden v Ireland on June 13.
Capacity: 80,000
History: Built specifically for the ’98 World Cup, football fans will remember Zinedine Zidane inspiring France to glory on home soil. We all know exactly what it looks like, especially since our rugby team play here every second year and it also hosted two Champions League finals, but Irish fans will be very familiar with the ground.
Let’s skip past those painful memories!
Getting there: To reach the stadium by public transport you can either take the metro or the RER (metro extension). Both RER lines B and D can be taken from station Châtelet (10-minute ride) and Gare de Nord (5-minute ride). If you take line B get off at La Plaine Stade de France, if line D get off at Stade de France Saint Denis.
Metro line 13 connects the stadium with stations Montparnasse (25 mins), Invalides (20 mins) and Saint-Lazare (15 mins). Tram line 1 furthermore connects the stadium with Paris’ eastern suburbs.
The Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux, Bordeaux
Capacity: 42,115
Fixture: Belgium v Ireland on 18 June.
History: The new ground replaced Bordeaux’s old stadium the Stade Chaban-Delmas and it has already been used by Les Girondins this season as well as hosting France’s 2-1 friendly win over Serbia. The same architects that designed the Allianz Arena and St Jakob-Park worked on this stadium and it’s going to host four group matches and a quarter-final.
Getting there: Tram C is your best bet and you can catch it from the the main rail station, St Jean, or any other stops alongside the Garonne river up until Place de la Bourse. Get off at stop Parc des Expositions, which is the last stop on the line. Alternatively, one can take tram B to its last stop Berges de la Garonne and walk half an hour from there to the stadium.
Note, a quick look at Google maps leads us to believe that this ground is like Poznan’s one for Euro ’12 i.e. it’s on the outskirts with not a lot of bars in the area.
Stade Pierre Mauroy, Lille
Capacity: 50,000
Fixture: Italy v Ireland on June 22nd.
History: The €300m stadium was opened in 2012 and it’s completely different to the ground that Manchester United fans might remember from the ’06 campaign. The five-star UEFA graded stadium can be converted from a football stadium to a large concert venue or smaller indoor arena. It also has a retractable roof, which can be opened or closed in about 30 minutes, handy if it’s bucketing down when we’re playing there.
Getting there: cated in the Lille suburb of Villeneuve d’Ascq about 6 kilometres south-east of Lille’s city centre and main railway station. Metro station Cité Scientifique and 4 Cantons Grand Stade both lie a short walk away from the stadium. Both are on metro line 1, which can be boarded in Lille’s city centre and at main railway station Gare Lille Flanders. Okilly Dokilly!
