Polish advice requested

[Ray de Galles]

I have a flimsy idea of going to Poland in the next month or so to try and see a weekend of speedway and football as they plan to allow limited crowds in to both in the next week or so.

This is dependent on many practical issues, not least the UK dropping the quarantine period on (re)entering the country but I suspect that will happen within weeks. The advice I need is on the Polish side, namely ;

- I see Poland are opening their borders for EU citizens and allowing flights inward in the next few days, are they allowing UK citizens in too (I'm told they are by a work contact but want to check)

- It looks like the Ekstralasa has its last regular fixtures this weekend. It appears to be play-offs after that, when are the fixtures put in place for those games? Are they done in one chunk or dependent on ongoing results. I presume tickets will be hard to come by at all clubs anyway?

- The second and third tier appear to have regular fixtures in to July. Are they also likely to allow spectators in and am I right in presuming tickets might be easier to come by for those matches?

Any other advice or tips will be gratefully received.

[ad hoc]

This is the best (official EU) site I'm aware of for shifting information about border openings and conditions https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/new...their-borders/

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Which airline have you found planning to open up routes to Europe? Easyjet and Ryanair keep making noises about returning some routes "soon" but so far the only flights out of Manchester are to Frankfurt, presumably for businessmen.

[Ray de Galles]

Thanks ad hoc.

Rogin, Wizz Air and LOT have flights for next month showing on Skyscanner, not general any further than that yet.

[super furry dice]

Others have commented on flights but fwiw, i looked into revisiting Czechia for games last weekend as their own goverments website had said you could be let in for 48hours without having to quarantine. Flights were ?580return and upward in cattle, so I scrapped it.... our work is finding similar too and lfights to Germany are easily 4x what they had been with the airlines that are still flying.

In terms of football, I did a footie w/e in Krakow last May (did 7 games there, East Poland and North Slovakia using Krakow as the base). The play-off fixtures were out within 3 days of the end of the final round with dates and kick-off times confirmed too. And unlike other national leagues, the schedule was rigid and there was no change to it.

Both Krakow teams were home (Friday and Saturday) but I only did one due to my other games. Tickets can be got for both clubs at the grounds themselves, and Wisla do a discount if its your first ever trip there. The tickets were really easy to get as and its common across Europe, play-offs are considered 'meh' by most fans and lots don't bother with that stage of the season (the excpetion being if you're chasing the title, albeit even then I've found tickets ok at teams like Anderlecht and I think it'd be the same at any club in Poland). You need your passport to get one as they do ask for ID when you buy, and they may ask you to re-show your passport on entering the ground. Levels 2 and 3 are similar but I don't know if they are letting fans in at that level.

If you haven't visited it already, then i'd recomend browsing http://www.90minut.pl - its very reliable for games and kick-off times at all levels in Poland and is updated daily (which is essentail for nerds like me as I did a Cracovia academy game on the Friday and the time for that got moved on the morning itself, but as i said the senior stuff is set firm so you should be safe with those).

[ursus arctos]

Ray, I would suggest that you message Christopher Lash (@rightbankwarsaw), who is very well connected in Polish football and helpful (he also does a podcast with our erstwhile poster Magik).

[RobM]

Magick's yer man.

Tickets are a bit of a faff but with a Passport no problem at the ground beforehand, probably better a couple of days beforehand if possible). they'll guide you to the best bit away from where the nutters gather as well. Not entirely sure what the Corona restrictions will be like but attendance will probably be fairly sparse and manageable 2nd/3rd tier.

[Antepli Ejderha]

Magik had a website which sadly no longer exists, I wrote a piece for it so that's gone. He's your man for sure.

[Ray de Galles]

Magick's yer man.

Tickets are a bit of a faff but with a Passport no problem at the ground beforehand, probably better a couple of days beforehand if possible). they'll guide you to the best bit away from where the nutters gather as well. Not entirely sure what the Corona restrictions will be like but attendance will probably be fairly sparse and manageable 2nd/3rd tier.

Yeah, I must admit the couple of games I did on a trip around the Polish Speedway GP in Toruń in 2013 (the home club in the third tier and Zawisza Bydgoszcz when they were in the Ekstralasa) probably attracted crowds of around or less than the new 25% capacity limit anyway.

Thanks for all the rest of the advice, will definitely follow that up.

What happened to Magick?

[Duncan Gardner]

Magick aka Maciej S----- is logged onto Facebook as I write

[ad hoc]

What happened to Magick?

I got the impression he found us all a bit left wing

[steviecowden]

its not play offs after the regular season,its top/bottom split so all the fixtures should be announced in one go

[fatbear]

Earlier in the week I looked at flights to Prague for early July for the last round of games in the Second Division and BA in economy was around ?150 return. Just looked at flights to Warsaw and it seems to be between ?150-?200 depending on when you want to go

[super furry dice]

Earlier in the week I looked at flights to Prague for early July for the last round of games in the Second Division and BA in economy was around ?150 return. Just looked at flights to Warsaw and it seems to be between ?150-?200 depending on when you want to go

Yes I think it was the timining of my planned trip, the number of airlines operating routes are increasing as we get nearer to July so i wil have a look into going with BA then, thanks. (Though my flight to Stockholm for games in early July has now been cancelled, but it might be that they are still running other routes) (and its lucky for me they have cancelled Stockholm as I don't think fans are being let into games).

[ursus arctos]

https://twitter.com/notesfrompoland/status/1273972898512977920

[Ray de Galles]

Interesting, that give me a nudge to chase up my contacts for tickets.

[ursus arctos]

News you can use

[steviecowden]

there were fans at todays televised piast Gliwice-lech Poznan game

[Ray de Galles]

Yes, this was the first weekend of allowing 25% of the capacity of stadia in, which triggered my plan.

[steviecowden]

im off last weekend of august,theres cheap flights from Scotland to Poland that weekend so I think ill go for it

[Ray de Galles]

Will there still be football on then?

[ursus arctos]

They haven't set the schedule for next season yet, but the odds are good as this one started in mid-July

[Ray de Galles]

Ah, I assumed the mid-July end to this season would mean a consequent delay to the next. That period may be a good one for me too then, though I am still hopeful for the final few weeks of this season being possible.

[ursus arctos]

There will definitely be a delay, but it can't go too late into the summer given the twin obstacles of the Polish winter and the Euros.

[steviecowden]

Will there still be football on then?

im reasonably confident/hopeful