Esbjerg

Ground: Blue Water Arena

Visits: 1

Date: 26th July 2015

Match: Esbjerg - FC København 1-2 (Superligaen)

Attendance: 9 255

Matches in Superligaen are being played Friday to Monday. On Sunday evening Esbjerg fB were hosting FC København and a match against FCK is for most clubs the biggest home game of the season. Staying the night in Haderslev I only had around one hour of driving to do and by noon I had reached Esbjerg. My hotel was in the outskirts of Esbjerg but with the ground Blue Water Arena, the home of Esbjerg, being only a 10-minute walk away this hotel was ideal for me. It was a conference hotel I had booked and I was one of very few who stayed at the hotel. Unfortunately that also meant the restaurant was closed and with no other restaurant nearby I had to rely on a nearby petrol station for food. I spent most of the afternoon reading "Stalker" by Lars Kepler. As usual with Kepler Stalker is one of those books you don´t want to stop reading. Anyway, kick-off was at 18.00 and 90 minutes before kick I was outside the ground. Blue Water Arena (formerly Esbjerg Idrætspark and Esbjerg Stadion) nowadays has a capacity of 16 500 (11 500 seats). The ground was opened in 1955 but major rebuilding works too place in 2004 and 2009. The ground feels like a better and upgraded version of the new Gamla Ullevi. FCK brought a few hundred fans and they were in the southeast corner of the ground. In total 9 300 were inside Blue Water Arena this afternoon. I was hoping for 10 000 but in the holiday season I guess 9 300 is alright.

Esbjerg forenede Boldklubber (EfB) was founded in 1924 as a merger between Esbjerg Boldklub af 1898 and Esbjerg Amatørklub af 1911. With the exception of 2000/01 and 2011/12 EfB has played in Superligaen every season. Last year Efb finished 8th. As their opening home game in the 2015/16 season got under way FCK were by far the better team and after 25 minutes FCK made it 0-1. Esbjerg had a few chances but in the 44th minute a goalkeeping howler meant 0-2. The FCK fans were more or less singing the entire match. The vocal home supporters were in the northwest corner and they did their best to support their team as well. Not much for them to cheer about today though. Esbjerg pulled a goal back in the 84th minute but never looked likely to equalize and the final score was 1-2. The visit to Blue Water Arena was actually my 400th ground visit and as I made the short walk back to my hotel I was thinking about a suitable ground for my 500th ground. I have to think a bit more about that though. One thing I do know is I will finish off this tour tomorrow with the Viborg vs AGF derby.

blue water arena