England face Holland in Dortmund on Wednesday for a place in next Sunday’s final in Berlin. And after the thrilling penalty shoot-out victory against Switzerland on Saturday, many fans will book time off work to watch
Thousands of England fans will start travelling by road, rail, sea and air on Monday to roar on the Three Lions in their Euro 2024 semi-final.
England face Holland in Dortmund on Wednesday for a place in next Sunday’s final in Berlin. And after the thrilling penalty shoot-out victory against Switzerland on Saturday, many fans will book time off work to watch the midweek clash.
Part time civil servant Julia Preston, 57, from Sheffield, south Yorks, has been in Germany with her retired husband David, 59, since the start of the tournament. They had banked on England making the quarter finals but feared that would mark the end of their travels.
Now they are extending their stay and Julia laughed: “I’ll just say ‘I need another week off’. But my boss is really good and she’ll just say ‘I thought you might!’ ” Julia added: “We’ve booked rooms in Berlin. We can cancel them but let’s hope we don’t have to!”
Daniel Musson, 47, from Sutton Coldfield, West Mids, had flown to Dusseldorf for the Swiss game with his son Thomas, 13. They returned to the UK tonight but Daniel will be back for the semi.
He said: “We’ve got to go back because Thomas has got school. I’ve got my own business so it is useful for me to go home and come back on Wednesday.” He added: “It has been an unbelievable experience and hopefully we can get to the final.”
Steven Spicer, 31, had driven with two pals from Wigan, Greater Manchester, on Friday evening, arriving in Dusseldorf just a few hours before the match. He said: “We didn’t have tickets and watched it in a bar and made friends with a few Germans. We just wanted to sample the atmosphere and it was brilliant, although the game wasn’t great to be honest.”
The three pals drove back to the UK today and Steven, a plumber, said: “We can’t come back for the semi, because of work, but if we get to Berlin we might think about it.”
Thousands of Dutch supporters will also be in Dortmund after making the short 146 mile journey across the border. The match is a sell out and tickets priced at ten times their face value are being advertised on resale websites. Ten ‘Fans First’ tickets, the cheapest category, which could be bought for €80 from Uefa, are priced at £655 each on one website.
Room prices in Dortmund have also soared, with one three star hotel advertising a double for £1,473 on Wednesday, compared with just £91 on Thursday.
