Quarter Final
England v Switzerland
Düsseldorf Arena
Düsseldorf, Germany
6 Jul 2024
The official tournament programme covered all of England's Group games and the Knockout Phase up until the Semi Final and was very good quality with 98 pages of gloss and colour
ESTC tickets for this game were in high demand with a final allocation of 6731 (731 above the expected total) and 2805 of these seats were available as Fans First tickets priced at 60 Euros. A total of 12326 members had pre-registered for this game so almost half of these would miss out so many would pick up tickets from touts or 3rd party ticket sites.
The Düsseldorf Arena is for sponsorship reasons known as the Merkur Spiel Arena. It is a fantastic stadium with a retractable roof and home to Fortuna Düsseldorf. It was completed in 2004 and replaced the old Rheinstadion which hosted 2 matches at the 1988 UEFA Euro Championships, including England's 3-1 defeat to Holland. It also hosted 5 matches at the 1974 FIFA WC. The stadium has a capacity of 54,600 (seating and standing) but for the Euros it has been reduced to 47,000 all seated
During Euro 24 Arena Düsseldorf hosted 3 Group games: Austria v France (0-1), Slovakia v Ukraine (1-2) and Albania v Spain (0-1). It also hosted this Round of 16 match between France and Belgium (1-0) and this Quarter Final, England v Switzerland (1-1 and AET, 5-3 on pens)
Attendance: 46,907
At last we have a good news story for the front cover of Edition 189 of the Free Lions showing Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham in celebratory mood following their late goals against Slovakia in Gelsenkirchen
Day 1: Travel and arrival.
Eurostar from St Pancras to Brussels, the ICE from Brussels to Cologne, then the regional train to Dusseldorf. I finally arrived at Dusseldorf Hbf and catch the U78 tram to D-Theodor-Heuss- Brucke, just opposite the digs
44(a) Uerdinger Srtasse is an old Pre-War German house. The host is Sussane Kamps, a successful German - Israeli painter. Check out the video of the studio apartment
The main bedroom with spiral staircase leading to the studio
Day 2: The Rhein Tower and an introduction to Alt Bier
The view from the studio
Heading to the Rheinturm south of the Old Town
Despite the clouds the Rheinturm still stands
majestic on the Rhein
The Rhein Tower is Düsseldorf’s most recognisable landmark and was built between 1979-82. It is located to the South of the city at the entrance to Media Harbour, directly next to the former parliament of Nord Rhein-Westphalia.
The full height of the tower is 172.5 metres but the lift only takes you to the viewing platform at 168 meters
The views from the observation platform and Bar M168 are impressive, even on an overcast day like today
In the distance you can see Düsseldorf Arena
The Stadttor is literally the gateway to the city centre of Düsseldorf. It was also the former parliament of Nord -Rhein Westphalia from 1999 - 2017
The Public Viewing area at the Rheinufer promenade
Start of the Rheinufer (Rhine Embankment) Promenade
At first glance the Düsseldorf Pegel-Uhr on the Burgplatz looks like a Clock Tower but the dial is a water level gauge. The long handed indicating metres and the short hand in cm.
The promenade is full of bars and the English are in town
Burgplatz Fanzone in the shadow of the Schifffahrtsmuseum (Shipping Museum) in the Castle Tower
Stadterhebungsmonument is bang in the centre of the old town and commemorates the 700th anniversary of the City rights to Düsseldorf. It depicts the Battle of Worringen, the City Seal and the Parish Church
On my walk around the Old Town temptation rears it's head
But I settle instead for my very first glass of Altbier in the Schlüssel Brauhaus
Outside ‘Zum Schlüssel’ the writing on the wall in the local Rheinland dialect reads:
"Iss was gar ist" (Eat what is cooked)
"Trink was klar ist" (Drink what is clear)
"Sag was wahr ist" (Say what is true)
On my travels I bumped into the Free Lions Team who told me where the famous bar from 'Auf Wiedersehen Pet' is. It is the Hausbraueri Uerige and is one of the Altbier houses
Enjoying my 2nd Altbier (Uerige)
George and Angelika - 2 Fortuna Düsseldorf fans
Angelika proudly displays her season ticket and Fan membership of Fortuna Düsseldorf
The Brauhof (Beer Garden) of Uerige
Back in the Old Town and the Marktplatz in front of the 16th century equestrian statue of Jan Wellem
Walking through the famous 'Street of a thousand bars'
Back in the Zum Schlüssel to watch the Germany v Spain game being played in Stuttgart
There are always 2 barrells of Altbier on the bar, the one in use and the full barrel ready to be changed when required
Changing barrels
Bringing the replacement up from the cellar
Pröst
The atmosphere has changed on the street since the Germans were knocked out
We ended up at the suggested venue for pre-match drinks tomorrow. It is called Restaurant Kastanie and is walking distance from the arena. They also sell a different Altbier, this one is Füchschen (little fox) and is very crafty😊
Day 3: Matchday
Feeling rough as f*ck as we didn't finish until 3 in the morning. I remember George and Angelika dropping me off at the studio in their taxi but not much else. I arrive at Kastanie's but it is closed, thankfully the Greek restaurant opened at 1200
Enjoying a livener with the Southend boys
Lunchtime at the Kastanie Restaurant and all the boys have turned up
Walking Tommy Truman to the match
A rare photo with Tommy Truman
Polizei policing as always was brilliant
With TT in the shadow of the Dusseldorf Arena
No chance of a beer when the toilet queue is 30 minutes long
Warming up to "3 Lions on a shirt"
The flags are about to get rolled out and the sun is shining🌞
The flags are out and the Euro 24 theme tune is belting out
My seat is perfect but I have a lot of numpties in front and behind of me. 2 lads are pissing in plastic cups 2 rows in front of me and there are a load of Micky Mouses (Everton fans) behind me and they are thieving beer
Booing the Swiss!
GSTK
Moments after I took this Switzerland went up the other end and Embola scored in the 75th. Thankfully 5 minutes later Saka equalised on 80 minutes with a cracking left foot curler into the Keeper's bottom right
England win the penalty shoot out 5:3 after Trent Alexander Arnold hits the 5th into the back of the net
Bukayo Saka deserved this MOM, at times he was unplayable
Me and the dodgy Mickey Mouses
Scenes, as it sinks in that we're not going home
The stadium is glowing as we make our exit
What a fantastic day, now back to Kastanies' for the after party
Germany's No1 barmaid has been well and truly stickered💫
Team Photo at Restaurant Kastanie
Dazzy Potts
The 2 Sri-Lankan owners are awesome and we thanked them for their service
Behind the bar with the A team
Day 4: Back to Cologne to get our lost items and then a change of plan to stay another day!
Susanne's art studio is beautiful and light on this sunny morning, but I can't dwell long as she has a client coming around and I need to change digs before my train to Cologne
I booked Leonardo's near the central station for one night as I didn't fancy going to Minden on my own
Now I have a mission to retrieve a package from a garden bush in Cologne. The package has Sue's Gortex Rab and my England tracksuit top, this is the text that Chiara sent showing me the exact location where she had put it last night. Thankfully it was still there when I arrived and I jibbed the train so all I lost was 2.5 hours of my life 😀
Back to Düsseldorf and a walk around the Old Town, this is taken from Benrather Str looking up the Stadtgraben
I finally locate the Brauerei Schumacher on Oststrasse
This turned out to be my favourite Altbier
Pork loin (Kasseler Lummer) on sauerkraut and mashed potatoes - 16.50 Euros
After sampling all of the main Altbiers in Düsseldorf I can now confirm in first place is Schumacher Altbier
The 4 main Altbiers of Düsseldorf
The brewery is massive and has many rooms which are all wood panelled and full of interesting paintings and decorations
Corneliusplatz where I picked up a Free Lions
Kö-Bogen on Konigsallee is a designer shopping precinct with really cool buildings and cafes
Shipping Museum and Burgplatz are looking good in the sun
Düsseldorf on the Rhein
Düsseldorf’s oldest building and landmark of the Altstadt (Old town) is the Basilica of St Lambertus founded in 1288. It has a twisted spire just like the one in Chesterfield
Later I met some Sunderland Boys and went to the Chinese restaurant 'Lin' on Oststrasse, a great night was had by all
Day 5: Little Tokyo
After looking around shops for an Adidas T-Shirt for a mate back home I gave up and headed to Little Tokyo for lunch
Enroute I came across the Fan Zone at the Schauspielhaus
Euro 24 Big Balls
The best Japanese restaurant in Little Tokyo is Takumi 1st Düsseldorf, they were queuing here at 1045 for 1200
I'm going for the spicy Ramen
The boys of the Japanese kitchen
Surf and Turf Takumi style
This kitchen's on fire 🔥
Auf Weidersehen Düsseldorf 💗
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