High prices have Nordic fans feeling the pinch at Women's Euros

Straits Times

3 days ago

THUN, Switzerland - Football fans from the Nordic region are well-used to paying high prices back home, so when they start raising an eyebrow at the prices at the Women's Euros in Switzerland, the rest of the world tends to sit up and take notice.
Many fans from all over the continent have been shocked at the eye-watering expense of food, drinks and accommodation in Switzerland, and supporters of Norway and Iceland, who were meeting in Thun in their final Group A game on Thursday, have also been feeling the pinch.
"The beer is cheaper than Norway but everything else is more expensive. The beer is most important, so that's what I'm measuring everything else by," Martinus Naalsund, brother of Norway player Lisa, told Reuters.
"My vacation money barely, barely covers it -- if they make it to the final, my sister will have to pay!" he added.
"This is the only place we could go outside of Iceland and it's still around the same price, because Iceland is so expensive as well," Iceland fan Steinar Bergsson said.
According to Eurostat, the statistics office of the European Union, Switzerland is the most expensive country in Europe for consumer goods and services, with Iceland second and Norway fifth, behind Denmark and Ireland.
Group A features Nordic sides Norway, Finland and Iceland, as well as hosts Switzerland, so all four sets of fans are used to shelling out when going to football matches.
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A hot dog at the stadium in Thun cost eight Swiss francs (8.58 euros) while beers and French fries are priced at six francs.
Naalsund and his friends, Marius Selbekk and Simon Bergsvik, have been paying an average of 100 euros per person, per night for a triple room as they travelled around Switzerland following Norway's group-stage campaign, and they have stayed in some strange places.
"Some of the rooms are quite nice but one night we stayed in what was previously a prison; it was a prison cellin Lucerne, so it was a prison bed, you know, and they had bars on the windows," Marius explained.
"There was even a sign saying 'Respect the other inmates'."
For Snaebjorn Arnasson, the expense of the trip to Switzerland would be worth it if his relative, Iceland captain Glodis Viggosdottir, could manage a goal against the Norwegians before both he and the team head home after the group stage.
"Glodis is a big star back home in Iceland, this is my first time seeing her play at a major tournament, so if we're all going home tomorrow, we may as well get a goal from her," he said. REUTERS