Pre-season

[Dkc]

Bochum is also reachable from Brussels and Frankfurt by train. Might be worth considering if flights are expensive to the closer airports

 

[Dkc]

Same. I looked earlier and found Manc to Düsseldorf for £119 looked again about an hour later, same flight £286.

Maybe Bettis tipped them off and is awaiting his cut


If you have a VPN it's worth setting it to another country or using an incognito window when looking for flights. Often the site you use will remember a previous search and jack up the price.

Google Flights and Kiwi.com are both decent for finding the best price

 

[Grandmanasty]

Maybe Bettis tipped them off and is awaiting his cut


If you have a VPN it's worth setting it to another country or using an incognito window when looking for flights. Often the site you use will remember a previous search and jack up the price.

Google Flights and Kiwi.com are both decent for finding the best price

Cheers Ik will try that.

 

[Pegster]

Taken from the Bochum site :-

The opponent for the dress rehearsal has already been determined: VfL will host Sheffield United at the Vonovia Ruhrstadion. The traditional club from the English Championship will be a guest at Castroper Straße as part of the season opener including a family day. Kick-off is on Saturday, 1 August, at 4 p.m. The two cities are linked by a long partnership, which in recent years has recorded a pronounced exchange at the civil society, economic and city level. Last year 2025, the 75th anniversary was celebrated, making Sheffield Bochum's oldest twin city.

"I'm very happy that we managed to get such a traditional club for the season opener, with which there is also a town twinning," VfL head coach Uwe Rösler is already looking forward to the test match. "It will be an important assessment of where we stand and a great setting like in a championship game. Personally, I'm really looking forward to seeing Sheffield United coach Chris Wilder again, with whom I've often duelled. I can only encourage every VfL fan to come to the stadium on this day, because we managed to grab a great dress rehearsal."

VfL will communicate all information about the supporting programme for the season opener and tickets for the match against Sheffield United separately via its club channels in due course.

 

[Blackheath Blade]

Or a stop off in Bruges on the way..? Thinking Sheff to Bruges, sampling some fine beers - then up next day suitably "refreshed" (!) on to Bochum

We're looking at a couple of options tbh as we dont want to spend too much time on the road. Brussels or Ghent are on our list for a stopover as both of them look amazing.

I'm really looking forward to visiting Bochum too as a few people on here say it's a fantastic place. There's three of us travelling so I'm sure we'll work something out quite quickly.

 

[Dkc]

Stadium is not the biggest in Germany but decent and supposed to be a good atmosphere. They finished mid-table in Germany's second tier last season. Averaged around 25k. Bochum used to be a big coal and steel town.

Seems we have a fair bit in common

 

[jt64]

Bochum is also reachable from Brussels and Frankfurt by train. Might be worth considering if flights are expensive to the closer airports

Counterpoint is that Brussels - Köln train gets mighty busy in my experience, particularly at that time of year, so if doing that you'd be pretty well advised to pay to reserve a seat. Amsterdam's another option if you're looking that far away, lots more flights, real easy to transfer from Schiphol to the city, train to Düsseldorf from there isn't that long and can usually be had relatively cheap

 

[LBA_Blade]

"Race across the world style" someone was quote £286 for flights, from Bramall lane to the fixture with no flights only spending £286, can it be done.... Megabus anyone

 

[Ball_Sup (Phil)]

Joking aside some lovely beer halls and this place is one to visit.

Moritz Fiege Private Brewery

Moritz Fiege Private Brewery

www.ruhr-tourismus.de

Memory is shot. I had to consult the sacred lists. Germany v England in Dortmund, 2017

 

[Balham]

View attachment 237927

Stadium is not the biggest in Germany but decent and supposed to be a good atmosphere. They finished mid-table in Germany's second tier last season. Averaged around 25k. Bochum used to be a big coal and steel town.

Seems we have a fair bit in common

Funnily enough, Sheffield and Bochum are twin cities precisely because they have a lot in common

 

[Dkc]

If we do have a game against Getafe in Valencia before, Ryanair is about 100 quid from Valencia to Cologne on the 31st.

 

[CambridgeBlade]

Will tickets be fairly easy to get on 40k,20k and 10k points do we think? First time going abroad for Blades so not sure how popular these games normally are?

 

[Cheesebored]

Will tickets be fairly easy to get on 40k,20k and 10k points do we think? First time going abroad for Blades so not sure how popular these games normally are?

I've read 2000 and 3000 for allocations which i thought would be plenty but having talked to mates there seems to be a lot of interest around this fixture so who knows.

 

[Ball_Sup (Phil)]

I'm going to save "some of the good stuff" for my Blog. But, I'm pretty sure the Bochum game will be United's first game in Germany since the three games in July 1989. I was at those three.

 

[JDBl4de]

Will tickets be fairly easy to get on 40k,20k and 10k points do we think? First time going abroad for Blades so not sure how popular these games normally are?

I would think with it being abroad and in August, with a big allocation at 2.7k, that it'll probably be fine

 

[Davalon]

We're looking at a couple of options tbh as we dont want to spend too much time on the road. Brussels or Ghent are on our list for a stopover as both of them look amazing.

I'm really looking forward to visiting Bochum too as a few people on here say it's a fantastic place. There's three of us travelling so I'm sure we'll work something out quite quickly.

Ghent is fantastic. Was there last year.

We're in Brussels and Bruges later in the year so probably won't go that route, although I have been looking at a convoluted route on the Eurostar to Bochum that will allow us to take in one or two other places we've been fancying in Belgium and the Netherlands.

Quick check on pricing suggests it might even work out cheaper than flights!

 

[Davalon]

Funnily enough, Sheffield and Bochum are twin cities precisely because they have a lot in common

Bochum also twinned with Donetsk like us

 

[Foxy]

Bochum also twinned with Donetsk like us

The flight and accommodation there would have been likely cheaper at the moment.

 

[Balham]

The flight and accommodation there would have been likely cheaper at the moment.

Flight somewhat tricky with the airspace closed.

 

[Lens instep catch]

I'm going to save "some of the good stuff" for my Blog. But, I'm pretty sure the Bochum game will be United's first game in Germany since the three games in July 1989. I was at those three.

View attachment 237933

View attachment 237931

View attachment 237930

View attachment 237929

I think we all know how the following season finished on the 05th of May

 

[The Menace]

Fiege Pils….worth the trip

 

[PaulBentley]

Reminds me of my very 1st football match sheffield boys v bochum 1965 ish I think it was at owlerton stadium.must have had some effect. As I still go regularly. CBF.

 

[RossingtonBlade]

Flights and digs sorted. £340 for flights & 2 nights.

 

[DifferentClass]

Another Development XI confirmation

Think Fulham need a word wi Retford FC over their crest!

 

[Cheesebored]

Flights to Cologne, train to Dusseldorf, Thursday, Friday, Saturday hotel in Dusseldorf. Train to Bochum on Saturday for game, home Sunday. £288.

 

[chesblade]

Can get flixbus but will take hours

 

[loveWalrusDaveTheBlade]

I’m loving this thread. Blades fans excited about a great pre-season trip to a proper beer drinking city, enjoying the company of their mates, the experience of being there, and of watching the Blades even in a largely meaningless match.
So much better than reading the hand- wringing dilemmas of people wishing to discuss in public whether or not to renew their season tickets, the facile and uninformed commentary on the pro’s and cons of DOF’s and the general negative whingeing about all things Blades on a fans website.
A friendly game, announced well in advance, in a great place to visit, with a decent ticket allocation. Bring it on.

 

[jt64]

Ghent is fantastic. Was there last year.

We're in Brussels and Bruges later in the year so probably won't go that route, although I have been looking at a convoluted route on the Eurostar to Bochum that will allow us to take in one or two other places we've been fancying in Belgium and the Netherlands.

Quick check on pricing suggests it might even work out cheaper than flights!

If you're looking at that, then you might also want to consider what I've done for games in NRW before and take the overnight Harwich-Hook boat. Can get a combined ticket that rolls up train to the boat from anywhere that Greater Anglia serves (closest to Sheffield I guess would be Peterborough) and the crossing, it's not quite the bargain it used to be after NS pulled out of chucking on onward travel to any Dutch station but compared to how much Eurostar can be these days it's still not bad, especially if there's more than one of you to chop the cabin. Saves one hotel night and you can be anywhere in the Netherlands by about 11am.

 

[I should coco]

Cologne looks the easiest/cheapest option to fly into

If it helps..

Dusseldorf has a lovely old centre by the Rhine ('Altstadt'). Proper beer kelkers where the waiters bring more glasses and mark your beer mat.

It is also one of the best connected airports in Germany, so you can fly from anywhere. There is an excellent local S-bahn (tram) system, plus good overland train connections. The only problem is that it has a massive exhibition centre (think NEC with bells on), so flight and hotel prices tend to rise when there's a big event on.

 

[Meersbrook Blade]

Flights booked. Thursday to Sunday. £68 return from Stansted.