Back in April of 2024 I had the opportunity to go to the London Stadium to see West Ham play Bayer Leverkusen in the 2023-2024 Europa League season.
- Background
- Teams involved
- How I got tickets
- How I got to the game
- The game
- Leaving the stadium
- Conclusion
Background
I went to Europe with my family and, whenever I go to Europe, I look for opportunities to see live football games. This time I broke a personal record because, instead of going to my usual one game per trip, or maybe two games per trip, we managed to go to three games (two in England and one in Italy). I’ll write reports for those games too and will add links here soon.
This was both my first time going to a West Ham game at London Stadium and my first time going to a Europa League game. I have been to many football games in Europe before but this was the first time the game was not part of a national league. Something that made this game extra special was the fact that it featured Bayer Leverkusen. Up to that point they were undefeated in all competitions and were the team to beat in Europe. They were at the top of the Bundesliga and seemed unstoppable, which made the match vs. West Ham even more interesting. It was a really great experience and, best of all, I got to share it with my dad who is also a passionate football fan.
Teams involved
West Ham competes in the English Premier League and is based in East London, specifically in Stratford. They play their home games at the London Stadium, an impressive stadium that was built for the 2012 Olympic Games.
Bayer Leverkusen competes in the German Bundesliga and is based in Leverkusen. They play their home games at the BayArena.
How I got tickets
I checked game calendars during the days I was going to be in London and I realized that West Ham would play Bayer Leverkusen on the last night of my trip, April 18th 2024. I checked the West Ham tickets website and realized that the tickets would not go on general sale for a few more weeks. I added a reminder on my calendar to wake up at 3:45 am US Pacific time so I could try to get tickets (the tickets were going on sale at 4 am my time). I knew that I would need to be ready and move as quickly as possible because the tickets were likely to sell out in minutes.
Well, as soon as the sales window opened I logged in and started to look for tickets. I found two that were not too expensive and were at a good location in the stadium. I tried to add them to my shopping cart and boom, I saw a notification that the tickets were no longer available. I tried again with two different tickets in another location and again, the same thing happened. I started to get a little concerned that I could miss out on getting tickets because there were not too many left. I then realized that most of the available tickets were on the East side of the stadium. There were a few on the West side and I decided to give that area a try. Fortunately that worked and I was able to buy two tickets for the game, one for myself and another one for my dad. We got tickets on block 210, row 71.
How I got to the game
Getting to the game was a very rushed experience for my dad and I because we arrived from Italy a few hours before the game. To get to the game as quickly as possible, we took the Heathrow Express to Paddington Station. We booked those tickets in advance at the Heathrow Express website. Then we took the Elizabeth line from Paddington to Stratford and used our Oyster cards. We ran through the commercial area there so we didn’t get a chance to look around, but it looked like an area worth exploring (lots of restaurants, stores, etc.). We could hear the loud sound of the fans coming from the stadium as we ran there.
The game
The game did not have the outcome my dad and I (and most of the stadium) were hoping for, which was a West Ham victory. Nevertheless, it was a very very entertaining match. West Ham had a chance to qualify to the next phase of the Europa League but things didn’t work out, even though they were leading the game at the end of the first half.
Both the local and visiting fans were chanting and loud throughout the game and that created an amazing atmosphere at the stadium. We had pretty good seats and had a clear view of the action.
You can also see highlights of the game below:
Leaving the stadium
At the end of the game we followed the crowd towards the exit. It took over an hour to get back to the station because there were so many people (it was a sold out game). The part we had not taken into account was the fact that, given the time the game ended, we had only about 1 hour to catch a train back to Heathrow. We had purchased tickets to return on the Heathrow Express but by the time we got to Stratford there was no way we were going to make it to Paddington Station in time to catch the last train of the day. We asked one of the London Transport employees and she suggested taking the train to a station where we could take a Picaddilly line train back to the airport. We got on a Central line train and got off at Holborn, where we ran to catch what may have been the last train going to the airport that night (there was a group of people running along with us). Since we were staying at Terminal 4, that complicated things a bit because the Picaddilly line does not go there. We got off the train at Hatton Cross station and took a bus to Terminal 4.
Conclusion
Overall my dad and I had a great experience at the game. It was very especial for us to not only get a chance to attend a Europa League match, but also one that had so much significance in Europe at the time (Bayer Leverkusen was still unbeaten at that point in the European season and West Ham had a strong team and a good chance to beat them). In the end, West Ham lost, but the game was hard fought and entertaining to watch. Also, getting to the game was very convenient with the Tube and the London Stadium is impressive. The architecture is very different from other stadiums I have been to, the ambience was amazing and the seats we got were great. Leaving the game was a bit stressful because we were not sure if we were going to be able to take public transport back to our hotel at the airport, but it all worked out in the end.
I am looking forward to going to more West Ham games in the future. If you visit London in the future, definitely check the game schedule in case you have a chance to go to one of their games.