Groundhopping24

A very rainy Milennium Bridge. Montenegro - well, where to even begin? The turbulence as the plane from Krakow landed at Podgorica Airport should have perhaps been a sign of things to come. Or perhaps the rickety lift up to the sixth floor of the apartment building I'd be staying for the next three days. In any case, it was clear to me that even on arrival, keeping this break short was a wise idea. Don't get me wrong, some parts of Podgorica have a certain charm, and I'd certainly be interested in one day visiting the coastal resorts of Montenegro, but I can safely say I've had better trips. Saturday night was the night to adjust after a long day of travel, so the trip began in earnest on the Sunday. The weather was absolutely ungodly, so I tried to time my venture into the city centre to be in between the gargantuan showers to little avail.  Some rainy glimpses of the national stadium, and home of Buducnost. I did manage to stop off for some amazing Currywurst (that tr...

During coverage of the World Cup in 2006, I recall Gary Lineker asking a question of Ian Wright; are you a fan of S&M? Given that they were covering a game involving Serbia & Montenegro, my 11 year old brain couldn't work out what was so funny - they gave a respectable account of themselves in a tough group featuring Argentina, the Netherlands, and Ivory Coast if I remember correctly. It's only now looking back at the quote that I recognise the double meaning. That said, I still have no idea what the other meaning stands for specifically, but in any case, the M gained independence from S fairly soon after this tournament in 2006, with 2006-07 naturally marking the start of the Montenegrin football league. In the almost two decades since the formation of the league, Montenegro still languishes near the bottom of the UEFA coefficient, with only five nations ranking lower - North Macedonia, Georgia Wales, Gibraltar, and San Marino. To date, no club from Montenegro has mana...

Sparta Brno Having won promotion from the South Moravian fifth tier last season, it would be fair to say Sparta Brno have adapted reasonably well so far. In many ways, it's fortunate that they occupy one of the six fourth tier divisions in which only there's only one relegation place - Divize D. For whatever reason, only D and E have one relegation spot, which thankfully for Sparta is occupied by a seemingly hapless Havlíčkův Brod who are already seven points adrift without a win going into the weekend's action. But before I go into another return visit to Sparta Brno a year on from my last, I thought it might be interesting to look into how all the previous victors of the JMKP (the South Moravian fifth tier) have made the step up. Just how great is the step up from the fifth to the fourth tier in Czech football? The class of the JMKP - where are they now? 2024/25: Sparta Brno We'll start with the runaway winners of last season's JMKP, and the focus of today's b...

A quaint spot just outside the ground.  When considering the title for this blog, it was essentially a choice between an Amy Winehouse reference, or an AC/DC reference. Naturally I went for the former, as I much prefer Winehouse to a band whose singer legitimately sounds like Elmo. In any case, it's still perhaps a little too subtle, especially for those unfamiliar with Winehouse's seminal 2006 album. All that said, after a disappointing and dull trip to Vienna last week, I was staying a little more local this week via the half hour train up to Blansko, and things weren't looking so rosy so far this season. Before the game, only Polánka, Karviná B, Slovácko B, and Hlučín are keeping Blansko off the bottom of the MSFL, with the former of these actually having beaten their kind hosts 3-1 a couple of weeks back. That said, there have been three wins so far - at the aforementioned Karviná B (1-2), at home to Vsetín (2-0), and a huge one at Unie Hlubina (0-4).  As far as every...

The scene of the crime...a crime against football.  The last time I was at Austria Vienna's stadium, it had been part of a highly unusual yet enjoyable evening in September 2022, yet there wasn't a single Austrian on the pitch. That was because the Generali Arena was hosting a friendly match between Qatar and Chile for some reason. It was a great game, which finished 2-2 and involved a brief cameo from Ben Brereton-Diaz, but with the stadium more than half-empty, I would definitely need to return for an Austria Vienna game at some point. Fast forward three years and that point has finally arrived. Back in August, I visited Austria's fierce rivals, Rapid Vienna as they played out a goalless draw against Rheindorf Altach , but now comes the turn of Austria Vienna as they host Blau-Weiss Linz. The hosts should be absolutely buzzing following their 3-1 win at Rapid, and given that away fans couldn't attend, they'll certainly be welcomed home as heroes. The previous visi...