“Let’s make ourselves comfortable”
UEFA gives Norwegians bus travel order over 220 meters
September 26, 2024, 1:07 p.m
The images of the bus rides to the stadium accompany every big football game. The arrival of the teams will be celebrated by TV stations and on social media. It is a production that takes on absurd excesses at the edges of perception.
The “big” football sometimes produces strange things, as the “little” Norwegian football champions Bodö/Glimt have now found out. Like all other kickers in the Europa League, the professionals from the far north have to travel to their home games in the team bus – even if the journey is only 220 meters.
Isn’t there? There is! And that’s what it looked like before the start of the league round on Wednesday against FC Porto (3:2): The players around Frankfurt loanee Jens Petter Hauge met in front of the regional administration headquarters for their departure at 5:05 p.m. – some traveled with them Car arrived, others came on foot. Exactly one minute later, at 5:06 p.m., the bus arrived at the Aspmyra Stadium.
And how are things going on the return journey?
Why the whole circus? “UEFA wants us to gather. That’s why we’re doing it this way,” team manager Truls Bjerke told Norwegian broadcaster NRK. As usual from the European Championships or the Champions League, there should be arrival photos for the TV stations, with footballers getting off the bus.
The kickers accept it with a shrug. “It’s about the feeling of community, about meeting up for the game. Maybe the bus thing is a bit silly, but that’s how we make ourselves a little comfortable in the 30 seconds,” said defender Villads Nielsen. Left winger Hauge added: “We’ve been told that’s the way it is, so we’re not wasting any more energy on it.” But isn’t that strange? “Yeah, but that’s just how it is.”
Incidentally, some of the players walk to the stadium for league games. And: You don’t need a return ticket in the Europa League either: the journey home after the games is “individual”.
