Prioritet Serneke Arena

Ground: Prioritet Serneke Arena

Visits: 1

Date: 30th January 2016

Match: IFK Göteborg - Sarpsborg 1-0 (Friendly)

Attendance: 2 048

In January last year I visited Tipshallen in Växjö for the friendly between Öster and Helsingborg. Being an indoor arena Tipshallen is a great asset during the winter months for the local football clubs. In Göteborg an indoor arena, Prioritet Serneke Arena, has been built as well. With the first proper football match being a friendly between IFK Göteborg and Sarpsborg I decided to go to Göteborg for this match. Prioritet Serneke Arena is not only a football arena. Beneath(!) the football pitch there is a ski dome where there is a 1 200 loop of artificial snow. For cross-country skiers in southern Sweden this ski dome has become very popular. There is also a hotel inside the arena and I had decided to stay at the hotel from Saturday to Sunday. From Kristianstad it takes 3 hours to reach Göteborg and around 13.20 (kick-off 15.00) I was outside Prioritet Serneke Arena. There was a local market this afternoon and in combination with the ski dome and the football match the traffic situation was slightly chaotic but I eventually found where to park. Neither the hotel (opened in July 2015) nor the street were yet in my GPS but I set a nearby street as my destination. Anyway, at 13.30 I was inside my room and 20 minutes later I met up Magnus and Christian, two friends of mine.

The official capacity for football matches at Prioritet Serneke Arena is 2 200 and this game was sold-out. The south stand is seated while the north stand is standing. Magnus, an Örgryte supporter, and I decided to stand at the west end of the north stand. Christian, a hard-core IFK fan, felt more at home with the ultras in the middle of the stand. Being the first friendly of the new season I didn´t expect much and unfortunately I was to be correct, not many chances and 0-0 at half-time. The second half was slightly better but hardly a good game of football. I was convinced my first domestic game of the year would end goalless but in the 84th minute Gustav Engvall, via the post, made it 1-0 to IFK. The match ended 1-0 and as there was a hailstorm as well as thunder (how is that possible in January?) outside the ground by now I was quite pleased the game was played indoors. We then had dinner and a few drinks at the hotel restaurant before saying good bye to each other.

proritet serneke arena, entrance