Join Now for Free
Home » Fan Forums » Tickets & Travel

Confused

Am I right in thinking that if England win their group and therefore our next match will be in Dublin, should we win that match we will have 3/4 days to sort out flights to Rome when on the forst of those days we will still be in Dublin.

Should we finish second in the group the same scenario will apply, should we win in Copenhagen we then have to go to St Petersberg which I am guessing will require a visa, how can this be done in potentially a 2/3 day window.

Thanks in advance for any information.

8 Replies

  • Clarke Buckeridge
    Phillip,
    It's likely there will be a Fan ID style visa waiver used much like Russia last year.
    It's worth getting one.
    Everyone is assuming we will steam roller our group but we managed to balls up the group in France in 2016 so anything can happen.
    I have already booked a cheap flight to Dublin and will book a refundable one to Copenhagen via Opodo it cover the first two scenarios.
  • Will Arnold
    And it gets even more confusing if we finish third in our group - we still could qualify for the R16 and play in Bilbao (followed by Munich QF), Glasgow (followed by Rome QF), or Budapest (followed by Baku QF).
  • David Lilley

    Philip Hackett
    Should we finish second in the group the same scenario will apply, should we win in Copenhagen we then have to go to St Petersberg which I am guessing will require a visa, how can this be done in potentially a 2/3 day window.

    There will be visa-free entry to St Petersburg using a Fan-ID. The Fan-ID web site is already up and running and issuing Fan-IDs to eligible applicants.

    The Russians do not want people to circumvent their normal visa rules unless they are going to one of the St Petersburg matches. So, you must have a ticket to one of these matches in order to apply for a Fan-ID.

    From our point of view, we will be buying conditional quarter final tickets which will take us to whichever QF venue we qualify for. This ticket will not become 'a ticket to a match in St Petersburg' unless and until we come second in our group and then win the Copenhagen R16 on 29th June. Obviously, this would be too late to apply for a Fan-ID. I wrote to the Fan-ID helpline 3 weeks ago asking whether we could apply for a Fan-ID before the tournament if we had a conditional QF ticket. They acknowledged the query and said they would find out. Worryingly, they have not come back with an answer. Surely the Russian authorities must have been aware of conditional tickets so why do they not have a policy in place which they can quote to me ?

    As regards the possibility of being sent to Baku for the QF, I have not found any information about a visa-free entry scheme. Having said that, it would appear that the normal process for getting a visa for Azerbaijan is online, takes just a few days, and is relatively inexpensive.

  • Ian Costain

    In reply to David Lilley:

    I travelled to Baku for the Europa League Final in May. While getting flights there proved a bit of a nightmare, the whole organisation of the event was immaculate - from visa application right through to getting people from the city centre to the stadium and back.

    In terms of applying for a visa online I immediately got a response saying "Your application has been succesfully processed. Within 3 hours an email on the outcome of your request will be sent to you".

    Really hoping that England don't play there though. Amazing city … but travel nightmare!
  • Ian Costain

    In reply to Ian Costain:

    Oh yeah. And, as you got your passport stamped at immigration in Baku, they presented everyone with a free keyring commemorating Bahramov … the Azerbaijani linesman who awarded England the goal in the 1966 World Cup final! A really nice touch from the Azerbaijan authorities.
  • David Sidebottom
    finishing top definitely not assured - we could even end up in a group of death - potentially france, Portugal, wales. Cant believe portugal are in pot c!
  • David Lilley

    In reply to David Sidebottom:

    We can't get Wales. From the competition regulations :-

    18.03 The following principles apply to the final tournament draw:

    b. The teams of the host associations, if they qualify or could qualify via the playoffs, are drawn into groups in accordance with the host city pairings decided by the UEFA Executive Committee in advance.

    Because Scotland is a host association which could qualify via the League C play-off, the League C play-off winner must be placed into the group which has Glasgow as a host city: Group D. So the team from Pot 4 which will be in England's group is the League C play-off winner. This could be either Scotland, Norway, Serbia or Israel.

    18.03 The following principles apply to the final tournament draw:

    a. The teams are seeded in accordance with the overall European Qualifiers rankings (see Article 23).

    This is why Portugal are in Pot 3. They finished 2nd in their qualifying group behind Ukraine and were only ranked the 3rd best 2nd place team based on the results of their qualification matches. France won their group but were only ranked 7th best of the 10 group winners, hence they are in Pot 2.

    France + Portugal in England's group would certainly be daunting. There's only a 5% chance of getting both but a 60% chance of avoiding both.

  • David Sidebottom

    In reply to David Lilley:

    yes of course - forgot we'd get scotland if they qualify!
Sign In or Sign Up

To participate within this community you need to sign is as an England Supporters Club member here.