This post will cover my experience going to the Tottenham Hotspur stadium to see Spurs play vs. IF Elfsborg in the Europa League. I have been a Tottenham Hotspur fan since 2011, when I saw them play versus Aston Villa at White Hart Lane. That was the first European football game I ever attended, which was a dream come for me. I will write about my experience about that first game in the future, but for now let’s focus on the game vs. IF Elfsborg.
- Background
- Teams involved
- How I got tickets
- How I got to the game
- The game
- Leaving the stadium
- Conclusion
Background
I had a trip to London in January of 2025 and I hoped to finally catch another Tottenham home game. I checked their home game schedule and saw that they’d play at home against IF Elfsborg in the Europa League. Tottenham is the team I support in the Premier League and I was very excited about the possibility of seeing them play again. Also, I had only seen them play in White Hart Lane and had heard great things about their new stadium.
Teams involved
Tottehnam Hotspur is a team in Tottenham, north London that plays in the English Premier League. Their motto is Audere est facere (Latin for “to dare is to do”). Something I learned as I wrote this blog post is that the team’s name comes from the English knight Sir Henry Percy, nicknamed Hotspur. He also inspired the team’s emblem, a cockerel.
From 1899 to 2017 they played their home games at White Hart Lane, which I had the opportunity to visit in 2011. Their current home is the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, which has a seating capacity of 62,850 and is a true state of the art modern football stadium. The stadium is also used to host yearly NFL games in London.
Tottenham qualified to the 2024-25 Europa League by finishing in 5th place in the 2023-24 Premier League season.
IF Elfsborg is a Swedish team based in Borås. They play in the Allsvenskan, the top division in Swedish football. Their home stadium is the Borås Arena, which has a seating capacity of 14,500. They qualified to the 2024-25 Europa League after finishing 2nd in the 2023 Allsvenskan and then getting through multiple qualifying rounds to reach the league phase of the tournament.
How I got tickets
Once I confirmed that I’d be in London on the day of the match, I checked the sale phase dates on the ticketing website. The best way to improve your chances of getting tickets is to get a One Hotspur Membership, which gives you early access to purchase tickets. In fact, from what I’ve seen, you have to have a membership to buy tickets to home Premier League games. However, this particular Europa League match had an open sale phase for non-members. Since I don’t have a membership, I decided to wait until then. I added a reminder to my calendar and, when the open sale phase began, I signed in to my Tottenham Hotspur account and looked for a ticket. I found one in section Block 110 Row 26, which turned out to be an excellent seat, not too far from the pitch. However, given how amazing that stadium is, I don’t think you can find a seat that does not give you a great view of the action.
A few days before the game I got an email from the ticketing office with a link to add the ticket to my digital wallet. I could also find the ticket when I logged into the official Spurs app. By the way, the app is really nice. It has information about past and future Spurs matches and there’s even a section for “ticket memories”, where you can see information about the games you’ve attended.
How I got to the game
During this trip to London I stayed at a hotel near London St. Pancras station and Kings Cross station. To get to the stadium I walked to the Euston tube station. From there, I took the Victoria line to the Seven Sisters station. My original plan was to take the London Overground from Seven Sisters to White Hart Lane. However, I had to make a change of plans because the Overground train was delayed due to overcrowding and there was no specific ETA. I did not want to miss the beginning of the game so I left the station and started walking quickly on High Road toward the stadium. There were buses I thought about catching but they were all full with people going to the game, so I just kept walking until I arrived.
I got there with enough time to visit the team store. It was really impressive, with lots of space and even an area for pre-game announcements. I got myself a new jersey, some presents for the family, and then made my way to the stadium entrance.
I went through the first checkpoint and then through the turnstiles to enter the stadium. At the turnstile I used my digital wallet to scan the ticket.
Once I got to my seat I had a “wow moment”. The view of the pitch was amazing and the stadium architecture was impressive.
It was also really cool to see Peter Crouch as commentator at the game!
The game
It was an entertaining match to watch but the goals did not arrive until the 2nd half. Tottenham had good chances to score throughout the game and Son was a constant threat during the first half. It was great to finally see him play in person.
Throughout the game the Elfsborg fans made their presence felt. They were loud throughout and even before the game (I saw many of their fans walking around the Kings Cross station area). Elfsborg also had chances to score, but I felt pretty confident that Spurs would win in the end.
The game victory was delivered by three Spurs academy graduates: Dane Scarlett in the 70th minute, Damola Ajayi in the 84th minute, and Mikey Moore in the 94th minute. I really enjoyed the game, the experience at the stadium, and the jersey and souvenirs I got at the team store. Of course, the best part was seeing Tottenham win the game.
Leaving the stadium
To leave the game I decided to do another fast walk back to Seven Sisters tube station. You can take different buses that will take you to the stadium but I concluded that it’d be easier to just walk. There were many others who did the same.
Conclusion
I had a wonderful experience at the game. I finally got to see a game at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and it did not disappoint. Getting to and leaving the stadium was easy, even with the unexpected change of plans. The team store was really nice, accessing the stadium was fast and simple with the digital ticket, and the game was very entertaining. I’ll definitely look for more opportunities to see Tottenham play at home. I highly recommend you go to a game there if you have the opportunity. COYS!
