England supporters urged to ‘bring the absolute vibe' to Euro 2025 final
The 34,250-capacity arena is sold out and that includes the 2,000 allocation for England fans. Official resale tickets are unavailable but that is unlikely to stop the Lionesses' travelling support, who have been planning for this moment for some time.
According to Deborah Dilworth, the head of women's football at the Football Supporters' Association, the final is unlikely to bring a repeat of the England men's European Championship in Germany last year, when a late rush of fans arrived to hunt down tickets on spec. 'The women's fans seem to want to know that they've got their plans in place,' Dilworth said.
'I've not really seen a trend [similar to with the men's team]. There might be some people that might just happen to be in the city, and there may be some people that travel out, but the cost is probably prohibitive for them.'
The cost of flights, starting at £800 from the UK direct to Basel this weekend, has put off some potential travellers, according to Dilworth. But she observes that the Lionesses have succeeded in persuading a number of new fans to make their first trip to watch England away, many of whom bought tickets for the final months ago.
'We asked: 'Which tournament are you on?' at one of our events here and we had loads who said it was their first,' Dilworth said. 'We've also had lots where it was their first ever away tournament, and some where it was their first ever Lionesses game, including at the semi-final.'
The sense of a new travelling support being formed has been borne out by the fan walks in which England fans gather to march to the match together. It is a practice enabled and encouraged by Uefa but England notably were not part of the fan march trend in Germany last year.
'Possibly one of the biggest questions we get asked at every tournament is: 'Is there a fan walk?'' Dilworth said. 'And we've tried mini-walks at previous tournaments. Now we're collaborating with the FA to do it at a much bigger scale and the England fans have brought the absolute vibe. Their singing, their scarves, face paints, cowboy hats, they've presented in the way they usually do but in mass numbers which looks great.'
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