Never been there, but the city looks amazing!. The issue seems to be purely the distance from the other host cities. That's literally it. I think there will be more than a few hundred willing to deal with that single hurdle. I'd argue that it's good practice for when half a hemisphere hosts a World Cup 6 years from now.
To be fair I cannot remember a less active website for any major tournament. Certainly never seen one that has at no point said how many tickets sold.
Perhaps because there's already games in London + Scotland. To have three British venues for a EUROPEAN tournament in my mind would be an utter disgrace and a big F U to other locations. Baku has JUST AS MUCH RIGHTS as other cities to host games, will do wonders for Azerbaijan. Okay, travel MAY be difficult for some, however conversely, travel will be difficult for Azerbaijan citizens. No one seems to give a monkeys about them, do they...... As for London having BOTH semis and the final, cry me a river. Utter joke, but there you go, not remotely surprised ( and this is from an English man.... )
Absolutly right ! Why should a russian or turkish travel all the way to uk or spain while a west european doesnt want to travel to baku ? 2 countries (russia and turkey with 200 millions pple) account for almost all west europe population, they have exactly the same rights like others
Dear God what a rant but probably not surprising if you saw your team's second half performance on Tuesday. No one is remotely suggesting it should be three British teams. More why Glasgow and not Cardiff. The only reason people are moaning about Baku is the logistics and the fact everyone has to fly there and being so far from most qualifying nations and other centres it makes it very difficult and expensive. Why it is an utter joke to have the SF and Final in one place I don't know and makes it easier for fans of those teams involved. London is probably the most suitable place for for any part of a tournament in terms of what it has to offer and the number of magnificent stadia so the fact we have waited 24 years for any tournament would seem pretty suitable.
They should split the next Euros between Azerbaijan, Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh, Georgia, South Ossetia and Abkhazia. They stopped hostilities in the WW1 trenches for football after all!
I would rather that than Qatar for the next World Cup. No doubt that comment will upset all the very pro Qatar contributors.
Or the 'stans. At least they like a drink and aren't a concrete jungle in the desert built by slaves. The Silk Road World Cup!
No surprise Baku will be great. I think the logistics of getting there are the issue for some people. Getting there at short notice for a quarter final will be a nightmare for fans.
I think a lot of you are a bit confused with what the problems were for Baku. Getting there from ANYWHERE is difficult yes there are planes from various place BUT there just weren’t enough of them for the Europa final. Also the complain was that 2 English teams were in a final being played so far away and so difficult to reach. With regard to now and The Euros well it isn’t just the Western Europeans not buying tickets is it. Where are the Russians the Turks and other nations nearer to it? Why are they not buying?
Wonder how much they would have had to charge at cost for tickets on a fleet of chartered planes from London to Baku for the Europa League final? Maybe a daft idea but considering the way airlines and hotels inflate prices for these things, maybe something to consider for out of the way venues.
I think some done that but the problem also was getting a Landing slot. Also accommodation in a place that isnt a usual tourist destination was next to impossible.
Baku is actually further from Istanbul than Rome is (2,280 KMs as opposed to 2,226KMs). Rome is also a lot easier to reach for Turkish fans. Turkey will have lots of fans there but it is a big stadium Moscow is also over 2,000KMs away and they have games in SPB which is a lot more accessible.
i mentioned those places because someone said thats where the flights flew from. Doesn’t really matter the point is not many are rushing to go there.
Well, Baku is a barrier for me due to the cost of catching two flights. I've just done a mock booking on the Turkish Airways site and a Heathrow -Istanbul-Baku return ticket would cost me £1435.55p. That's an economy ticket before I've added any extras such a luggage, meals etc. So certainly not what I'd spend on beers and to my mind a disproportionate cost just to see a game or two of football. You talk of those with reservations about Baku being "spoiled kids" but this is the opposite of that, if I was a spoiled kid perhaps blowing the best part of two grand (once I've added luggage, accommodation and of course those all important match tickets! ) on a football match would be inconsequential to me but despite being a hard working person with a respectable job that isn't the existence I live.
Paul, I thought the same as you until I read the wikipedia article explaining the process. Cardiff was refused permission to be a quarter final host in phase two, which was after London was awarded the semi final and final by default but before Glasgow had been awarded any games, which didn't occur until phase four, when Glasgow beat Cardiff by one vote to take the last slot as a Rof16 and group stage host. Don't get me wrong, I love Scotland and think it's great Scots will be able to watch some Euros matches in their own country, but am slightly struggling to understand how Hampden could be chosen as a better venue than the Millennium Stadium. As others have pointed out, perhaps it was more to do with hotel spaces and airport capacity. I agree with you completely about Baku having just as much right as any other place to host matches and I'm genuinely pleased that my Azeri brothers will be able to watch Euros matches up close and personal. It's just that knowing the difficulties and expense in getting to an from the place for most competing nations, it would have made more sense to stage an entire group there, as opposed to condemning fans to flying between there and Rome if they want to see all the matches. I'd have actually gone a stage further and kept the Group A teams on a path where they'd play their Rof16 and QF matches in Baku to save on the expense, air miles and pollution!
Matches at Wembley, I also have a FMT which could take me up up to Glasgow or to Amsterdam, Bilbao or Bucharest. Eg, places I can either drive to or get to a short, reasonably priced flight, not places that take two flights which between them cost what I might spend on week's holiday.
If the Millennium stadium and surrounding area and logistics was suitable for a champions league final three years ago why would it be unsuitable for Euro 2020? I am sure Bristol airport would not be too far for people to use as well.