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