Brighton Tromso: Inside the Arctic Away Day Awaiting the Albion
Four hundred Brighton supporters are heading inside the Arctic Circle. Tromso have finished the job against Cluj at the Romssa Arena and confirmed the fixture a good chunk of the Albion support had already gambled on: Brighton Tromso, in the far north of Norway, next Thursday. Plenty of them snapped up flights and accommodation before the tie was settled — and, as The Argus reports, the travelling contingent will be squeezed into an away section of around 400.
This is the UEFA Conference League play-off round, the last hurdle between Fabian Hürzeler’s side and the league phase of the European campaign Brighton earned by finishing eighth in the Premier League last season. Tromso are not a name to frighten anyone in Sussex. The journey, the size of the away allocation and a home club already reporting heavy ticket demand are another matter.
How the Brighton Tromso tie was settled
The Norwegians made light work of the third qualifying round. Already 5-0 up from the away leg, they won 2-1 at home to Cluj to go through 7-1 on aggregate, and they were ahead after six minutes through Leon Hein, a Swedish centre-back making his debut after joining on loan from Djurgarden. Isak Vadebu, playing alongside him in a back three, added the second early in the second half before Cluj pulled one back near the end.
A small away end and a long trip north
Away tickets are on sale from Friday morning and that 400-odd allocation is expected to disappear quickly. Tromso are bracing for brisk business of their own: the Norwegian club expect huge demand for home tickets and have put their own selling operation in place. Anyone who has followed the Albion into Europe knows how quickly an unfamiliar ground and a full home end can flatten a technically superior side.
Tromso sits inside the Arctic Circle, which is not a phrase that turns up often in an Albion fixture list. The play-off is settled over two legs, with the return at the Amex, so the 400-seat squeeze solves itself in a fortnight. Doing the hard part first, a long way north, is what shapes the European season — and the key dates in Brighton’s European return are already mapped out.
Tromso arrive in decent shape domestically, too. Before European duty comes a trip to third-placed Molde on Sunday, with the hosts sitting fifth — hardly the schedule of a side coasting into the play-off round. It is worth remembering that the Norwegian season runs through the summer, so Tromso will meet the Albion in the thick of their campaign while Brighton are still a week away from their opening Premier League fixture. Match sharpness, for once, will not be on the visitors’ side.
Familiar company in the play-off round
The Albion are not the only British interest. Rangers and Hearts have both dropped into the Conference League, where they join fellow Scottish sides Motherwell and Hibernian. Atalanta, Braga, Getafe and Ajax are among the other names in the play-off round, a stronger field than the competition’s reputation suggests.
Anyone still weighing up the trip can check Brighton’s Conference League dates before booking anything. Four hundred of them will be in Tromso next Thursday. The rest will be watching, hoping the Albion do the sensible thing and settle it early.
