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...