Czech Republic v England, Fortuna Arena, UNL 26, Group A3, Prague, Czech Republic

 29 Sep 26

UEFA Nations League Group A3

Czechia v England

Fortuna Arena

Prague, Czechia

There was no official programme produced, although the Czech FA did produce a poster for their home UNL games

The FA were allocated a measly 1024 tickets for England's opening away game of the UEFA Nations League. There were 9,898 registrations, so getting tickets was going to be challenging. As a 'top capper' on 42 caps I was always going to be safe and even Sue on 30 caps was successful in the 30% ballot. Sadly she couldn't make the trip so I had to return her allocated ticket back to the ESTC.

The Fortuna Arena has the largest capacity in the Czech Republic at 19,370 and is home of Slavia Prague. This is my third visit to the stadium in the Vrsovice district

England have played in Prague 6 times but until tonight, their last victory was in 1908 when it was part of Bohemia:

13 Jun 1908: Bohemia 0 England 4 (Fr)

16 May 1934: Czechoslovakia 2 England 1 (Fr)

27 May 1973: Czechoslovakia 1 England 1 (Fr)

25 Mar 1992: Czechoslovakia 2 England 1 (Fr)

11 Oct 2019: Czech Republic 2 England 1 (ECQ)

29 Sep 2026: Czechia 0 England 2 (UNL)

Czechia 0 England 2

Attendance: 18,930

Day 1. A wander around Prague

First place I visited was the Zizkov TV Tower. It is 216m tall and built between 1985-92. Fun fact is that is has sculptures of several babies (Miminka) crawling up and down the pillars

and offers great views over Prague

Just outside of Viktoria Zizkov's stadium is the memorial to Ryszard Siwiec, a Polish man who set himself on fire in front of 100,000 people at the '10th anniversary Stadium' in Warsaw . He was protesting against the communist regime and the invasion of Czechoslovakia by Soviet tanks. The Soviets covered it up, so unlike the Czech hero 'Jan Palach' who protested in the same way, his name was forgotten.

I took a tram across the city to the Epet Arena, the home of Sparta Prague for a pre booked stadium tour

Club Shop

Stadium Graffiti #1

Stadium Graffiti #2

Stadium Graffiti #3

Stadium Graffiti #4

The tour guide takes a nice photo!

HC Sparta Praha v HC Energie Karlovy Vary

Arrival at the O2 Arena, home of HC Sparta Prague. The stadium is the largest in Czechia with a capacity of 17,383 

Little boy lacing his skates

Countdown to the big match

We are Sparta

HC Sparta Praha 0 HC Energie Karlovy Vary 1

Czech dinner after the game

Derby in Prague at the Londoners Sports Bar

Day 2: Pilsen Brewery and Matchday

England v Argentina, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, WC 26 Semi Final, Atlanta, Georgia

England v Argentina

FIFA World Cup 2026, Semi Final

Atlanta Stadium

Atlanta, Georgia, USA

15 Jul 26

There was no official programme for FIFA WC 26 but the FA did produce a matchday poster for each game played by the free lions, available on England@England on X

Official Souvenir ticket

Official WC 26 Host City Poster

ESTC applications for England's Semi Final in Atlanta against Argentina were undersubscribed due to the high prices. There were 2686 applicants for 3500 tickets in the following categories: 875 x Cat 1, 875 x Cat 2, 1250 x Cat 3 and 500 at Cat 4. Luckily I qualified for the lowest category of ticket (Supporter entry/Cat 4) which was $60 (£45). In all it was outrageous ticket pricing from FIFA

The Atlanta Stadium (Mercedes-Benz Stadium) opened in 2017 and is located in downtown Atlanta, just a short walk from the MARTA stations at GWCC (Georgia World Congress Centre) or Vine Street. The stadium has a capacity of 70,000 and is home to the Atlanta Falcons in the NFL and Atlanta United in the MSL. The stadium had the honour of hosting 8 WC games, including this Semi Final between England and FIFA and VAR's favourite team (Argentina):

15 Jun 26: Spain 0 v Cape Verde 0 (Group C)

18 Jun 26: Czechia 1 South Africa 1 (Group A)

21 Jun 26: Spain 4 Saudi Arabia 0 (Group C)

24 Jun 26: Morocco 4 Haiti 2 (Group C)

27 Jun 26: DR Congo 3 Uzbekistan 1 (Group K)

01 Jul 26: DR Congo 1 England 2 (Rd of 32)

07 Jul 26: Argentina 3 Egypt 2 (Rd of 16)

15 Jul 26: Argentina 2 England 1 (Semi Final)

England 1 Argentina 2 Highlights

Attendance: 68,239

Who else for #206?

After landing into Atlanta at 2014, by 2130 I had reached my digs in East Atlanta Village and it was time for Zzzz's

The Guided tour

Day 1: Krog Street tunnel and the BeltLine

East Atlanta Village is like Little Five Points' older, dive-bar brother. It is a grungy, punky, music village with its fair share of homeless and beggars

The Krog Street tunnel has been  Atlanta's unofficial legal graffiti wall since the 1960s. Bring a can of spray paint and a face mask!

Krog Street Tunnel 🌈

The tunnel was built in 1912 as an underpass connecting Cabbagetown and Inman Park/Old Fourth Ward

The Atlanta BeltLine is a 22 mile loop of railroad tracks turned into trails. This is the Eastside Trail from Krog Street Market, Piedmont Park, Old Fourth Ward, Inman Park and finally Ponce City Market where I got off my e-scooter

Ponce City Market (PCM) is a giant food hall and shopping mall located inside the former Sears, Roebuck and Co building

The old Southern Railway corridor which is now the BeltLine led to the Sears building. 

From PCM I walked though the 'Old Fourth Ward' which was where Martin Luther King grew up on 450 Auburn Av and where he preached at Ebenezer Baptiste Church

The rest of the afternoon was spent watching the other World Cup Semi Final which saw Spain easily defeating France 2:0 in Dallas. The we found this dive bar in Buckhead, Atl

I can't argue with that

Today's team

A reminder to all!

Day 2: WC Semi Final (England v Argentina). We start the day with a driverless WAYMO

The famous 'ROA Alligator' in South Downtown

Pre-match beer at Tesoro's in South Downtown

Toze and Big Tone

Emily👯

Bish🐺

Big Sam 🐏

DCFC massive

Famous Sheff Utd flag😂

Passing the Argentine vermin🐀

Mark Garner

The Eagle has landed

The Moose has landed too

Amazing Atlanta concourse

The 'Atlanta is Beautiful' mural featuring Dr MLK, John Lewis, the Carters, Andrew Young, Bernie Marcus and Hank Aaron. It includes the Atlanta landmarks: Fox Theatre, Ponce City Market and Piedmont Park

It is right behind the England end between blocks 101-103 and 135-136, the area usually reserved for Atlanta United fans

Nerves are starting to jingle

Enter the Gladiators

The Anthems

Countdown

The English support

Anthony Gordon's goal on 55 mins still separates these two old adversaries but how long can England hold on with the pressure building

Bails from Stockport dressed for the occasion

We still lead on 80 mins

Will 68,239 witness something special

Sadly not. England wilted under relentless pressure, assisted by some poor tactical substitutions by Tuchel and a referee who allowed the Argies to be totally reckless in the tackle, ignoring the majority of their fouls.  Fernandez scored on 85 mins to equalise and Martinez popped up in the 92nd to take the most hated team in world football through to an undeserved place at the World Cup Final.