BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 16
By Jani Babayeva - Trend:
The funds spent on the trip to Baku, where the UEFA EURO 2020 matches are held, fully justified themselves, football fan Ashley Thomas told the UK's County Times, Trend reports.
"It’s been great out here. Locals are friendly and it's cheap which is much needed after all the money spent getting here, I’ve found pints as cheap at 80p. You also see the same Welsh faces everywhere you go given that there isn't many of us out here. It's been worth every penny. To top it off I may have travelled out here alone but I've not been alone at all," Thomas said.
According to Thomas, despite the calls of the Wales authorities not to travel to Azerbaijan and Italy, where the group matches of the European Football Championship are held, about 2,000 fans went to the first game in Baku.
Azerbaijan and Italy have entered the ‘red lists’ of the governments of the UK and Wales, which means that travel to these countries is not recommended due to the coronavirus pandemic.
However, this did not stop the Wales football fans, he added.
“The atmosphere was great that Saturday. I don’t know how it looked on the TV screen, but we provided quite loud support to our team. It can also be said that the players appreciated our efforts: at the end of the match, they went to the stands and spent a few minutes applauding us, while we applauded them,” the fan said.
EURO 2020 is being held from June 11 to July 11 in 11 European cities. Four Group A games are being held in Baku within EURO 2020.
The first match of the group was held in Baku on June 12 between Switzerland and Wales at the Baku Olympic Stadium and ended with 1:1 result, while Italy beat Turkey, 3:0.
Turkey and Switzerland will play on June 20. In addition, one 1/4 final game will take place in Baku on July 3.
The European Football Championship was supposed to be held last year but was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.