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There’s nothing quite like a Champions League game. Unlike Saturday afternoons and Sunday lunchtimes, these matches are played under the lights, which always makes it feel like more of an occasion.
And when football fans feel like it’s an occasion, they get very, very loud. But some places are louder than others. Even when they were a Champions League mainstay, nobody found Arsenal’s atmosphere particularly intimidating, and with the best will in the world, Glentoran FC’s 25,000-seater stadium isn’t going to rattle the windows two miles away.
If you want to experience the best, noisiest, most intense atmospheres in the Champions League, then these six grounds need to be on your bucket list.
#6: Westfalenstadion – Borussia Dortmund
The Germans are on to something. Safe standing, beer on the terraces – it’s no wonder they’re more lively than the prawn sandwich brigade sitting quietly for a night at Old Trafford. Dortmund’s Yellow Wall is a perfect example – 24,000 fans in the South Bank, wearing the club’s famous yellow and black colours, with flags and shouting and general mayhem. Yes, the Germans are most definitely on to something here.
#5: Stadionfeijenoord – Feyenoord
OK, they’re a Europa League team more often than they’re a Champions League team thanks to Ajax, but when Feyenoord get a chance on the big stage, they take it. When their ground was built back in the 30s, it was designed to channel noise and create an unrivalled atmosphere. It worked so well that the general design has been copied by Barcelona for Camp Nou. It’s just a shame Barcelona only get noise like this for an El Clasico.
#4: Rajko Mitic Stadium – FC Crvena zvezda (Red Star Belgrade)
The Serbian SuperLiga club are famous for songs and chants that rile up opposing fans and players. If you don’t speak Serbian, don’t worry, because fans at the ground formerly known as the Red Star Stadium will make enough noise that you’ll get a general idea anyway. Red Star good, everyone else very, very bad.
#3: Celtic Park – Celtic
The Glasgow club don’t half make a lot of noise. They love to belt out “You’ll Never Walk Alone” (more on that below), and they generally get stuck in with lots of singing and chanting. Maybe it’s because Scottish football is often a bit dull, and fans have to make their own entertainment? We can’t say.
They love a comedy banner though.
#2: Anfield – Liverpool
Anfield on a European night. It’s almost a cliche, with pundits and fans going all misty-eyed and recalling banners waving, people singing “You’ll Never Walk Alone.” The thing is though, they’re not wrong. Anfield during a game is loud, and it is electrifying. The crowd dragged the team to overturn a 3-0 deficit against Barcelona in 2019 through sheer force of will. Buying Liverpool tickets makes you part of something bigger.
#1: Turk Telekon Arena – Galatasaray
Travelling fans are guaranteed a hostile reception in Istanbul, and Galatasaray’s 52,000-capacity stadium is certainly a bit of a cauldron where opposition players are escorted out by riot police. In fact, it holds the Guinness World Record for the loudest noise ever recorded at a football stadium. 131.76 decibels. A jet engine taking off is only 120.
If you grab Champions League tickets there, remember to pack some earplugs.
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