Tag: England

  • Fulham vs. Wolverhampton Wanderers (English Premier League 2025-26)

    Fulham vs. Wolverhampton Wanderers (English Premier League 2025-26)

    Fulham vs. Wolverhampton was the first football/soccer game I went to during my November 2025 trip to London. My previous post covers West Ham vs. Newcastle and the one before it covers Crystal Palace vs. AZ Alkmaar. This was my 3rd time going to Craven Cottage and it was a great yet different experience from my previous visits.

    Background

    This was one of the games I went to during my trip to London in November of 2025. I have really enjoyed my previous Fulham games and this time I was looking forward to some new things. First, it was going to be my first time sitting in the Riverside Stand, which I had read good things about. Also, Fulham was going to play against Wolverhampton Wanderers, a team that currently has Jhon Arias, a key player in the Colombian national football team.

    Teams involved

    You can read about Fulham in a previous blog post.

    Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. is based in Wolverhampton, England. They play their home games at Molineaux Stadium (31,750 capacity) and are known as the Wolves. The team was founded in 1877 as St. Luke’s F.C. and was renamed to Wolverhampton Wanderers 2 years later. They returned to the Premier League in the 2018-19 season, after being away from the top tier of English football for some years.

    How I got tickets

    This time I followed the same process as the previous time I went to a Fulham game. You can read about it here.

    How I got to the game

    Like I did in my previous visit to Craven Cottage, I took the tube to the Putney Bridge station. From there, I walked by the Thames river to reach the stadium and it took just a few minutes. 

    Walking to Craven Cottage
    Walking to Craven Cottage

    By the way, a very cool part of this experience was seeing the players arrive at the stadium. I got there early enough to get some food near the team store and I noticed a group of people gathering as a bus arrived. I joined the group and got to see the arrival of the Fulham players first, including Raul Jimenez, a famous Mexican player. Then, the Wolverhampton players arrived and I got to see Jhon Arias enter Craven Cottage.

    Players' arrival
    Players’ arrival

    Since my seats were in the Riverside Stand I had to enter Craven Cottage through an entrance in the northwest corner of the stadium, by Stevenage Park. The Riverside Stand area was a great place to hang out before the game. I got a coffee, walked around, and enjoyed the sunshine and views of the River Thames. 

    Craven Cottage
    Craven Cottage
    Preparing for the match
    Preparing for the match

    The game

    Fulham quickly took control of the game and scored early in the first half (at the 9th minute) through a powerful shot from Ryan Sessegnon that was set up by a pass from Raul Jimenez

    First half action
    First half action

    Then, in the 35th minute, Wolverhampton lost a player as Emmanuel Agbadou was shown a red card for a foul on Josh King. Losing a player greatly limited Wolverhampton’s ability to seek a goal to tie the game and most of the action came from Fulham’s scoring opportunities.

    First half action
    First half action
    Jhon Arias by the cottage
    Jhon Arias by the cottage
    Jhon Arias
    Jhon Arias
    Game action
    Game action

    The 2nd half started with Fulham on the attack and those attempts finally yielded another goal in the 61st minute, from a long-range shot by Harry Wilson. In the 75th minute things went from bad to worse for Wolverhampton when Yerson Mosquera scored an own goal after a pass attempt from Ryan Sessegnon.

    Fulham goal celebration
    Fulham goal celebration

    This game was controlled by Fulham throughout and the home fans were very happy with the result. There was a good attendance by visiting Wolverhampton fans and they left disappointed, as their team lost another game and stayed at the bottom of the Premier League table.

    Second half action
    Second half action
    Second half action
    Second half action

    Leaving the stadium

    Unlike my previous Fulham game, I didn’t walk to the Hammersmith station and simply walked back to Putney Bridge and took the train back to central London.

    Leaving Craven Cottage
    Leaving Craven Cottage

    Conclusion

    This was another awesome English football experience. I landed in London that morning so I was concerned I’d miss the beginning of the game, but fortunately my flight was not delayed and I was able to get to my hotel quickly with the Heathrow Express. I really liked being there before the game to see the players’ arrival and also to check out the Riverside Stand.

  • Crystal Palace vs. AZ Alkmaar (Conference League 2025-26)

    Crystal Palace vs. AZ Alkmaar (Conference League 2025-26)

    I am currently in London and during this trip I had a chance to attend three football/soccer games. The last one I attended was a game between Crystal Palace and AZ Alkmaar. This was my first time going to a Crystal Palace game and it was also my first time at a Conference League game. Now I have been to 2 of the European club competitions (you can read about my experience at a Europa League game here). A Champions League game is my next objective, hopefully something I’ll achieve in my next trip to Europe.

    Background

    The Conference League (previously called the Europa Conference League) was created in 2021 and is the third most important European club tournament, after the Champions League and the Europa League. The qualification process has a champions path and a main path. The champions path includes teams that were eliminated from the qualifying rounds of the Champions League or the Europa League, while the main path includes teams that finished their domestic league in a position just below the Europa League spots. The current champions are Chelsea, which also won the Club World Cup last summer.

    Teams involved

    Crystal Palace Football Club is based in Selhurst, South London. The club was founded in 1905 and plays its home games at Selhurst Park. They compete in the Premier League and are the 2025 FA Cup winners, having defeated Manchester City by a score of 1-0 at Wembley Stadium. One of the teams they had to defeat to get to the final was Millwall, which is one of their South London rivals, along with Charlton Athletic. Both of those teams compete in the Championship, the 2nd division of English football. As winners of the FA Cup, Crystal Palace qualified to the Europa League. However, due to multi-club ownership rules, the team was placed in the Conference League instead. This is the first European club tournament Crystal Palace has participated in.

    Crystal Palace mural by Selhurst Park
    Crystal Palace mural by Selhurst Park
    Selhurst Park at night
    Selhurst Park at night
    Wilfried Zaha mural
    Wilfried Zaha mural

    AZ Alkmaar is a Dutch club based in Alkmaar. They compete in the Eredivisie, the top football/soccer division in the Netherlands. The club was founded in 1967 and plays its home games at AFAS Stadion. They had a 5 win streak before this game with Crystal Palace.

    How I got tickets

    As I do each time I go to Europe, I checked team calendars to see what games I could go to this week. I was able to buy tickets to the other two games I went to this week because I had seen those teams play before and had ticket history. I had never gone to a Crystal Palace game before, so I created an account on their website and looked for tickets. A membership was not required to buy tickets to this specific game, however, because my account was brand new, I could not buy tickets online and had to do it at the box office in person. I understand this requirement, since teams need to ensure that only fans of the home team can sit in the home team areas. The only time I had to go by the box office before they closed (at 5:30 pm) was the day of the match, so I decided to head to the Selhurst park to see if I could buy a ticket. When I got there the stewards were very helpful and pointed me to the club shop. Once I got there, I went to the box office and asked if I could still buy tickets to the game. Fortunately the answer was yes, so I told the agent to help me buy a ticket in the Arthur Wait stand, as close to the front as possible. The lady working at the box office helped me get a ticket in sector Y, row 4, which were excellent seats.

    Since I got the tickets so close to the game, the box office printed a paper ticket for me. I had not used a paper ticket to go to a game in a while, so it was cool to remember the days when all tickets were paper tickets. I appreciate the convenience of having tickets in a digital wallet, but there’s also something special about having a paper ticket that you can keep as a souvenir.

    How I got to the game

    I had never been to South London before, so I had to do a fair amount of research online to plan my trip. I learned that I could take a Thameslink train from St. Pancras station to Norwood Junction, which is a 15 minute walk from the stadium. Paying for the train ticket was easy because all I had to do was use my Oyster card or a contactless credit card when entering and leaving the stations. 

    The game

    This was a really amazing experience. I had heard that Crystal Palace fans were passionate and loud, but it’s one thing to hear about it and another to experience it. The environment during the game was electric. Fans were chanting throughout the game and proudly supported Crystal Palace. I had a great experience even before the game started because there are two players from the Colombian national team in Crystal Palace: Daniel Muñoz and Jefferson Lerma. I was hoping to see them play that evening and they were both starters. Not only that, but they warmed up on the side of the stadium I was sitting at. It was really cool to see them and they both played really well in the game.

    Jefferson Lerma and Daniel Muñoz
    Jefferson Lerma and Daniel Muñoz
    First half action
    First half action

    The game itself was very entertaining. AZ Alkmaar did not make things easy for Crystal Palace and there were good chances for both teams during the first half. In fact, there was a sequence of play where Crystal Palace nearly scored on 3 occasions, one of those being a shot that hit the post. Crystal Palace were also awarded a penalty, which was saved by AZ Alkmaar’s goalkeeper, Rome-Jayden Owusu-Oduro. The first goal was scored in the 22nd minute by Crystal Palace’s Maxence Lacroix. Crystal Palace’s 2nd goal arrived in the 4th minute of extra time at the end of the first half through Ismaïla Sarr.

    The Holmesdale Road Stand
    The Holmesdale Road Stand

    The 2nd half started with high tempo from both teams and AZ Alkmaar’s efforts were rewarded with a goal in the 55th minute, scored by Sven Mijnans. The 3rd and final goal of the game was scored by Crystal Palace’s Ismaïla Sarr in the 57th minute.

    End of half time
    End of half time
    Second half action
    Second half action
    Muñoz throw-in
    Muñoz throw-in

    Leaving the stadium

    I had assumed that I could take the same train back to central London but then realized that was not the case. Since the game would end at around 10 pm, I needed to take a return train at around 10:30 pm. However, I soon realized that there were no trains that would go to London from Norwood Junction that late (at least on the night I was there). So I found another station nearby, Selhurst. This station did have trains that would depart at around 10:30 and would go to Victoria station, from where I could then take the Underground to return to my hotel. The return train was a Southern train and I was to pay using my Oyster card. Once I got to Victoria, I took the Victoria line toward the Kings Cross/St. Pancras area.

    Conclusion

    Overall, it was an excellent experience, from the helpful stewards and box office staff, to the opportunity to see two players from the Colombian national team in action, and, of course, seeing Crystal Palace win and celebrating that with the local fans. I am looking forward to returning to Selhurst park soon and I recommend you go to a Crystal Palace game if you have the opportunity to do so.