Follow, follow, follow; FC United are going to Milano

Wednesday 6th April: Brera FC v FC United, KO 2030 Local Time, Arena Civica, Milan

The Fenix Trophy emerges from its winter break with Group B’s two unbeaten teams going head to head in Milan.

FC United will travel to Milan during the first week of the Easter school holidays which will hopefully allow a large number of our supporters to make the trip to Italy and see us play in one of Europe’s most historic grounds.

Brera FC:

Commonly referred to as the third team of Milan, Brera FC was formed in 2000 and initially competed in Serie D, with legendary Italian goalkeeper Walter Zenga their first manager. The Milan club has launched a number of worthy projects over the years, including in 2003 setting up a team made up of detainees from the Opera prison under the name FreeOpera Brera and in 2016 managing the Romani People Football Team affiliated to CONIFA, the world body for federations not recognised by FIFA. Brera FC actively promotes racial diversity with players of 20 different nationalities currently included in their squad. Similarly to FC United they play at the 7^th level of the Italian football pyramid in the Prima Categoria, which in Italy has 1,680 clubs playing in 105 regional leagues. This season has proved a difficult one with Brera FC currently languishing in 13^th position in the 14 team Girone M Lombardia division, having only won 2 league games and facing the danger of relegation but they put their domestic woes behind them in September with a 2-1 away win in Warsaw in their opening Fenix Trophy match which leaves them level on points with FC United at the top of Group B.

FC United board member Adrian Seddon meets Brera FC Club Manger Leonardo Aleotti in Milan, November 2021

Arena Civica:

Back in 2009, supporters watching FC United play at the Olypiastadion in Stockholm would have been hard pressed to imagine us ever playing at a more iconic ground in the future, but our upcoming trip to Milan on 6^th April could just take the Garibaldi!

Commissioned by the newly crowned King of Italy Napoleon Bonaparte as a modern day venue to showcase Milan’s wealth and built in the image of Rome’s Circus Maximus, the Arena Civica opened in 1807. Over the years it has played host to acts ranging from Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show to The Prodigy, has seen 11 world athletics records broken and held the finish of the inaugural Giro D’Italia cycle race in 1909. There are currently ongoing tests to see if ice can remain stable for a month on the running track, which if successful will see the Arena become the venue for the speed skating at the 2026 Winter Olympics.

However it is for football that the Arena will always be remembered as the stadium where the Italian National team played their first ever international match in 1910, a 6-2 victory over France. AC Milan were the first to use the Arena in 1900 and would use it sporadically for league games until 1914 and again in 1957 when they switched their European Cup tie against Glasgow Rangers to the Arena as the San Siro was covered in fog, but it is their rivals Inter who are most linked to its history, playing their more high profile matches there for 2 decades (including league titles in 1920 and 1930) before moving there permanently for the 1930/31 season where they would go on to win two further Scudetti in 1938 and 1940. Inter would move to a ground share with Milan at the San Siro in 1947 but continued to play occasional matches at the Arena until a  7-0 win against Lyon in the 1958 Inter-City Fairs Cup.

FC United will be the second English side to play European football at the Arena Civica, 66 years after Birmingham City played out a 0-0 draw against Inter Milan in the inaugural Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in May 1956. Although run by UEFA executives through a Fairs Cup Committee, the tournament was not recognised formally as a UEFA tournament until it’s rebrand as the UEFA Cup in 1971, meaning that it is Manchester United, running out 4 months later at Anderlecht in the European Cup, who are considered the first English club to play competitively in Europe. 

Travel:

Malpensa, Linate and Bergamo airports service Milan from a number of UK airports with direct flights between Manchester and both Malpensa and Bergamo on Ryanair.

Covid:

Before booking travel supporters should carefully read the latest Covid restrictions and added requirements for travel between the UK and Italy which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/italy/entry-requirements

It is important supporters understand that restrictions can change at short notice.