Sunday 29th January 2023 2.30pm – Serie C Group A – Stadio Euganeo, Padua
It’s ten minutes after the final whistle and Danny and I are trying to work out how to hire a pair of electric bikes. We’ve scanned QR codes, enabled location services and authorised the payment but the app is telling us there are no available bikes to rent in our area. We are standing in among a dozen of them, none which can move unless they are “unlocked” via the app. Neither of us cycle but faced with a very chilly 50 minute walk back to the center of Padua and no other transport options, it was Hobson’s Choice (named after Sunderland’s legendary full-back from the First World War era).
There’s plenty of stadiums that have built out of town, but few have zero public transport options. The nearest bus stop was a five minute walk away, but no services ran on the route on a Sunday (or so we thought). Prior to the game we’d enjoyed a look around the club museum in the town centre, celebrating 113 years of existence and the high-point of their Anglo-Italian relationship that spread far wider than the liberal use of the flag of St George to pennants celebrating games in 1993/94 against the English greats of West Bromwich Albion (won 4-3), Portsmouth (0-0), Stoke City (3-0) and Southend United (lost 5-2). The well dressed ultras enjoyed a drink or two in the midday sunshine in Piazza della Erbe, the heart of the well appointed historic city center of Padua,
The question of how exactly we would get to and from the Stadio Euganeo had been briefly discussed on our early morning flight from Stansted, dismissed with a nervous “I’m sure we will find a way” – after all with a capacity of nearly 20,000, the local municipal authority, who own the stadium, wouldn’t have simply built it in the middle of nowhere, beside a busy motorway without any due thought as to how fans would get there…would they? Yep, they most certainly did.
We parked the question until we had indulged in lunch and then approached a few locals, who we guessed were going to the game and asked. It was a little awkward and I’m sure a few may have thought we were angling for a lift (we were) but the overall consensus was that everyone’s mate, who hadn’t yet arrived at the pub, would be driving. So, taxi it was then.
Stadio Euganeo isn’t a looker from the outside. Sitting above the surrounding roads, the functional concrete stands didn’t radiate any warmth or even ownership by the club. A group of around 100 fans were congregated just to the south of the stadium around a makeshift bar enjoying the sunshine and belting out a few Veneto classics but otherwise, with an hour until kick-off it was quiet.
It has been over 25 years since the club experienced football in the top division and has been the story with many Italian clubs, fell into financial disarray and reformed in Serie D, in Padova’s case little more than eight years ago. Life in Serie B lasted just one season in 2018/19 before they fell back into the regional Serie C, where they could look forward to local derbies with the likes of Vicenza, Arzignano and Virtus Verona. Fifty miles or so to the east is the town of Pordenone, where today’s visitors would be arriving from, although the club were currently playing on the seaside at Lignano Sabbiardoro, some miles the south. They were arriving at the top of Serie C, looking for a swift return to Serie B, having been relegated last season.
Inside the stadium you got the feel that at least someone was trying to make it better than just being classed as “municipal” which is another word for athletics ground. The two stands on either side of the pitch, both two-tiered, offered good views but at the far end, the away fans were issue binoculars to be able to see the action. But at the opposite end a new stand, that wouldn’t look out of place in any top tier ground, was taking shape and was being built next to the pitch, which would make any athletics meetings where any track events longer than 300m very problematic.
For now though the ultras took their place in the sunshine in the east stand which gave us the opportunity to be among them….OK, by among, we stood at the back and pretended to join in with the songs and clapped our hands in time on occasions. But we did ourselves proud, giving a couple of high fives when the home side equalised in the Aljossa Vasic volleyed home at the far post in the 38th minute to equalise.
The home fans were superb and if the stadium wasn’t up there in the 100 to see before to shuffle of this mortal coil, nor the game was anything bar the last one on Italian Match of the Day later in the evening, the fans were Premier League, with the low roof hanging down from the top tier amplified the acoustics.
Full time and we headed out, hoping there would be a long line of taxis waiting. There wasn’t, nor was there any sign of a bus stop. But there were plenty of bikes to hire.
An hour later and we were back in the buzzing center of town for a debrief. Big ticks all round and definitely a town that would be on the return list, if perhaps not for the football.
How to get to Padua: Fly to Venice from the UK from multiple airports. Most budget airlines now serve Marco Polo airport, whilst Ryanair also offer routes to Treviso. From Venice airport get one of the two local buses that depart from outside departures to Mestre (about 20 mins) then a train (there’s ones every 30 minutes) to Padua – 13 mins each way and about £8 return.
How to get to Stadio Euganeo: Apart from on a Sunday, you can get a number 11 bus from Ponti Romani in the old town center to Via Monti and the from there it’s a ten minute walk to the ground. Buses run every twenty minutes. You can find a map of public transport here.
How to get a ticket for Stadio Euganeo: With a capacity of over 18,000 and average attendances around 3,100 it isn’t hard to get a tickets. There is a small ticket window to the south of the stadium, where the fans gather by the outside bar, or you can buy them around 10 days before online from here, with prices starting from €15. You need to bring ID with you (passport, driving licence, UK Parachuting club pass) and they are checked on entry.
Where to stay: Padua is an affluent town and is quite pricy in terms of hotels. A better bet is to head 15 mins on the train to Mestre where there are some brand new hotels within a few minutes of the station (StayApartments, Campanile, Leonardo to name a couple) where rooms can be snapped up for around £50 a night.
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