Away Day Planner: Pre Season (Duisburg)
Written by Dom Betts on 8th June 2018
It’s pre-season time and our resident away day guru, Dom Betts, has all the information on how best to get to The Cup of Traditions, where Fulham will be playing FC Duisburg, Athletic Club and an unnamed third side in a friendly tournament in Germany.
The Cup of Traditions, Duisburg, Germany
28th July, 14:00 – 19:00
Travel
The easiest way to get there will be the fly to Dusseldorf & direct flights are available from London City, Heathrow & Stansted. Obviously there are many day combinations but I’ll cover the main ones that people will most likely want to do:
- Friday – Monday
- Saturday – Sunday
(I’ll be posting the cheapest/most reasonable options, however if you find other airports easier to get to there will be flights for you)
In actually getting to the ground, you can take a S1 train from Dusseldorf Hbf to Duisburg Schlenk which is 10 stops and takes approximately 25 minutes and costs €10 if you book in advance or €19.50 on the day of departure and then the MSV-Arena is a 15 minute walk from there.
Friday to Monday
Flight Time – 1 hour 30 minutes (Approx)
Price – £94
Flights – London City – Dusseldorf 08:00 & Dusseldorf – London Heathrow 18:15
Saturday to Sunday
Flight Time – 1 hour 30 minutes (Approx)
Price – £97
Flights – London Heathrow – Dusseldorf 07:25 & Dusseldorf to London Heathrow 15:50
Accommodation
Accommodation looks very cheap in the centre of Dusseldorf, you can find various hotels in the space of £25-30 a night each for a double/twin room. So if you were to stay from Friday to Monday you could do flights & hotel for less than £200.
My recommendations for hotels abroad are usually stick with what you know. Ibis’ are always a good go to budget option, and on early glances the Hotel Stadt Munchen in the city centre looks good.
AirBnB could also be a good option if you’re travelling in a big group where you could probably find places around the same price if not cheaper , but you’ll have to work it out yourself – Dusseldorf isn’t a big city and the Metro is exceptional if that makes life easier when having a look.
Tournament/Matchday Information
At the time of writing the information, the details that have been confirmed is that we will be playing in a 4 team tournament consisting of MSV Duisburg, Fulham, Fiorentina & Athletic Bilbao. (Yes, Ben Jarman absolutely creamed his pants at the news this morning.) There will be 2 games, our opponent has yet to be named, then a 3rd placed play-off and final from the winners/losers of the 1st 2 games.
The ground will open at 2pm (local time). A ‘Traditions’ match will kick-off at 3pm, with the first Semi-Final taking place at hour later.
Match tickets will be priced at 10 euros for standing & 20 euros for seating. Tickets are available on Duisburg’s website at the moment, however if you wish to be in the Fulham section until the day of the game and we’ve been placed in stands Q & 19.
Final Words
I’d highly recommend doing this trip going by the 2 experiences of my German Fulham Pre-Season weekenders in Bremen and Darmstadt, and is very affordable.
If you don’t fancy Dusseldorf, other nearby cities you could stay in are Dortmund & Cologne.
There will be a Evian Les Bains planner released, once the fixtures have been confirmed.
