Europe’s best atmosphere, and it only costs £2.40

Flags + Pyro + Poor-quality football = The best atmosphere ever

Being searched by riot police, seeing someone get beaten up and being feet away from suffering severe burns sound like part of the travel tale from hell, not a nice, sunny afternoon at the football.

But in Sofia, it’s all part of the experience.

In April last year, me and the lads convened for another one of my birthday celebrations. Of course, you can’t toast the birth of Travelling Tom without a trip abroad, and so with cheap flights and a penthouse suite booked, we headed to the capital of Bulgaria.

Trying not to repeat the previous year’s mistakes

In 2016 we went to Milan for my birthday. We intended to go and see Inter against Napoli at the San Siro, but after that got moved we had to move onto our backup option – Atalanta versus Roma in nearby Bergamo. It was an absolute thriller, with six goals, the spoils shared and a goal from the one and only Francesco Totti.

Nine of us made the trip to Italy, but only four got into the game. We didn’t have a fan card (which, at the time, was needed to buy tickets for an Italian game), and we couldn’t obtain one either because we didn’t have an Italian address.

After the game finished - a six-goal thriller that ended all square.

It meant we had to rely on the kindness of other Atalanta fans to purchase tickets on our behalf, and with a language barrier it was a pretty arduous process. We eventually enlisted the help of two women, but three of our party had overslept and were still back at the hotel, 45 minutes away by train, and two that had travelled had forgotten their ID, which meant they couldn’t get into the game either.

In the end, four of us watched the game, the others didn’t.

But in Sofia we didn’t want any of that happening. The only problem was that there isn’t a great deal of information about CSKA Sofia’s ticketing online, so we would have to wing it. Trying to be organised, we headed down to the Balgarska Armia Stadium (Bulgarian Army Stadium) the day before the game, hoping to get our tickets in advance. But there was no box office or club shop in sight, only a big, angry and suspicious security guard, so we’d have to try our luck on gameday.

Gameday

Fans congregate outside the stadium which sits in a forested area known as Boris’ Garden.

Sunday was the day of the game, with an early evening kick off. Still ticketless, we headed to the ground. There were a fair amount of CSKA supporters knocking around, but fans of the visitors Ludogorets Razgrad were nowhere to be seen – although around 10 did travel.

We eventually found the club’s shop as we got closer, then the ticket office. And with last year’s ticket fiasco fresh in my mind, I approached the first free window.

“Six tickets, please,” I said.

“Okay, where do you want to sit,” the woman politely replied.

I honestly has no idea where the ultras were sitting, but we know we wanted to be at least near them, so I answered: “I don’t know, anywhere will do.”

It was met with a simple “okay!”

One of the best purchases I’ve ever made - a ticket to watch CSKA Sofia.

I thought tickets were 10 Bulgarian Lev, roughly £5 each, so I handed over 60 Lev and received six tickets in return, in addition to 30 Lev. Remarkably, these tickets were only five Lev, or £2.40, each (correct as per the exchange rate in April 2017). We were going to watch a top flight game of football for less than the cost of a Starbucks Coffee.

Entering the stadium

The entrance to Sector G at the Bulgarian Army Stadium.

The Balgarska Armia Stadium is crumbling. Not in a bad way, but in a way that gives the place some character, that gives fans a raw footballing experience.

But it fit in perfectly with the experience of going to watch CSKA Sofia, which starts even before you enter Balgarska Armia. Bulgarian football fans have a reputation of being fierce and intimidating, so it was unsurprising to see each entrance polices by several armed guards in full riot gear. We also had to pass through two search checkpoints, have our tickets scanned at a third and then we were in.

Welcome to Sofia

CSKA Sofia fans wave their flags as the sun sets and the players get ready to kick off.

It appeared that I connected telepathically with the lady in the ticketing office, because we were exactly where we wanted to be – in with the ultras. We were behind one of the goals in an all-standing section, with a great view of both the pitch and the surrounding mountains. There was also a running track around the grass where both a sand pit and fire engine waited for proceedings – definitely a footballing first.

Me and my mate Jack before the game.

Being the tourists that we are, we were getting our snaps inside the stadium, and having a look around. It was a great venue, even if I did see someone getting knocked down and beaten up at the back of the stand. We were safe, but the guy who got booted on the floor certainly wasn’t.

It’s all kicked off

A mid-game shot of CSKA Sofia taking on Ludogorets Razgrad at the Bulgarian Army Stadium in April 2018.

To be honest, the game was pretty uninspiring and the quality wasn’t brilliant. It was a drab 1-1, with CSKA pulling ahead with a penalty, before Ludogorets pegged them back with an equaliser. It really didn’t matter though, because we only had one eye on the game.

From start to finish, the atmosphere was insane. Raucous chanting never let up, and you couldn’t tell that CSKA had scored because the celebrations were drowned out by the constant vocals. Up and down jumping, flags flying, banners waving and the swinging of scarves were all part of the choreography, and completely different to the Premier League crowds we’re used to at home.

A banner unveiled by the ultras at half time.

In the first half, the fans were all given black cards, which were to be used for a half-time mosaic, celebrating one of the teams which made it to the semi-finals of the European Cup in the early 1980s, knocking out holders Liverpool along the way. That was impressive itself, but it was nothing on what was to come.

There may be a fire hazard, but a bit of danger makes for a more exciting atmosphere.

Chanting continued in the second half, but what happened a few minutes after the restart will live with me forever. I’ve seen it on television and internet videos, but being a part of a crowd lit up with flares and smoke bombs was truly remarkable. The pageantry on display was something I had never experience before, and this jaw-dropping scenario made for some amazing photos. I almost wish I could live in that moment for all eternity.

Full time

It was honours even on the pitch, but we were the real winners that evening. Whenever I watch a game of football abroad, I always like to see the home team win, but it didn’t even matter this time.

I’ve seen a lot of football games in a lot of countries, but never has a set of fans impressed me as much as CSKA Sofia’s.

We’d had a special night, and we celebrated with a meal and drinks at a restaurant on Vitosha Boulevard, Sofia’s main drag. Broadcast on several big screens throughout the restaurtant was El Classico, the famous fixture pitting Real Madrid against Barcelona in one of, if not the biggest match in world football.

The 81,000 spectators in the Bernabeu witnessed a cracking 3-2 Barcelona win, snatched in the 92nd minute courtesy of Lionel Messi’s 500th La Liga goal – yet their collective voice was no match for the 4,000 strong at the Balgarska Armia Stadium.

It was cheap, it was strange and it was dangerous, but CSKA Sofia provided me with the best atmosphere I’ve ever been a part of.