Stuck in an Elevator at Stamford Bridge

The main reason for our second trip to London was a birthday present for my father-in-law – a visit to the Chelsea – West Ham football match.
Let me say right off the bat that I am a fan of their North London rivals, but having been to the Emirates Stadium back in March 2020, I was naturally happy to go along with the idea of a match at Stamford Bridge. After a bit of a mix-up with the tickets (bought through exchanges), I ended up going for the P1 Travel “hospitality” package, so we spent almost the whole day at the stadium, instead of just the usual 2 hours, and as an unexpected “extra” we got stuck in the lift with three of the club’s former players. But let’s start from the beginning…

According to the English, football is “at home” in England, and with its immense popularity, tickets to Premier League matches are in high demand. You can’t just show up at the stadium and buy a ticket, as they’re sold out well in advance. The majority of seats are reserved for season ticket holders, who often face 5 to 7-year waitlists. The rest is filled by sponsors, VIP boxes, which are out of reach for most fans, and a smaller portion leased by agencies.

The most common and usually more affordable option is through online ticket exchange platforms, such as Stubhub, where you can find tickets for clubs. These sites allow season ticket holders, who can’t attend a match, to resell their tickets, often at a discounted rate. For the bigger London clubs, a season ticket can cost around £3000, so this is a way for fans to recover some of that cost.

For games against lower-ranked clubs, tickets sell for around £100-£150 depending on the location of the seat, but for bigger derbies like Chelsea-Manchester United, prices can go up to £800.

If you’re not attending the match alone, most ticket sites allow you to filter for “seats together,” so you can buy multiple tickets for families or groups. However, exact seat numbers are rarely listed, only the section (e.g., east end, lower row), so you won’t know your precise seat until the day of the game. The main reason for this is the rule that season tickets are non-transferable and owners are generally not allowed to lend or sell them, so nobody wants to expose themselves too much. When choosing, bear in mind that in the case of football, it is better to be a bit higher up than right next to the pitch, where you will see the players better, but have a poor view of the game, somewhere from the 13th row onwards is ideal, depending on the size of the stadium of course.

It’s crucial to choose the right type of ticket—an eTicket—so the seller can email it to you. If you opt for a physical ticket, it must be mailed and owners will not want to send it outside the UK, which can be a hassle if you’re not based there. I was lucky to have a friend in London, so for the Arsenal match, I used her address for delivery. After the game, I returned the ticket to a local hairdresser near the stadium, where there was already a stack of returned tickets when I arrived.

One drawback of this method, aside from choosing the right type of ticket, is reliability. Tickets, regardless of where you buy them, are typically issued just 48 hours before the match, meaning you won’t know for sure whether you’ve secured a ticket until nearly the last minute. StubHub does offer a guarantee in case the seller cancels, but this only covers the cost of the ticket. Your flight expenses, accommodation, transfers, and the potential disappointment of missing the match will still be on you.

In our case, I initially bought tickets for the Chelsea vs West Ham match through this method for about £95 per person. However, a few weeks later, I received a message informing me that my order had been canceled due to a technical error. I didn’t dive into the details— I just knew I had to find new tickets fast since everything else was already booked, and missing the match wasn’t an option. When I checked StubHub again, there were still a few tickets left, but now the prices had more than doubled, around £190 per person.

Since this time it wasn’t just me attending and I didn’t want to risk another “technical mistake” right before the game, I started looking for alternative, more reliable ways to buy tickets.
I chose P1 Travel, which offers not just tickets but also various hospitality packages. The best deal was the Museum package for 225 EUR per person, which was almost the same as the resale price above but included a full day of activities, not just the game. It was an easy decision. As agreed, I received the tickets by email two days before the match.

As mentioned above, buying a package extends the match-viewing experience throughout the day. Along with the tickets, two days before the match I received detailed instructions for the whole day, which of course included a special emphasis on the “dress code” – no tracksuits, no opposing club colours, etc. Understandably, I left my red shirt at home.
The match started at 3pm, but for us it all started at 10am with the opening of the museum.

After an initial photo shoot with the Champions League and FIFA Club World Cup trophies (photos are emailed and printed at an additional cost), we entered the museum, which records all the important events of the club, including an entire section dedicated to the 2012 Champions League final, which is replayed over and over again.
Then, of course, there’s the showcase with all the domestic and European trophies, the shirts of the last 80 years, Peter Cech’s famous helmet,…

After a short tour of the museum, there was a guided tour of Stamford Bridge Stadium. Tours are only available for the first hour after the museum opens, so make sure you arrive between 10 and 11am, as match preparations make this impossible later. Luckily for us, we slightly missed the first group and there were only four of us on the second tour.
The club guide took us through the players’ entrance, past the changing rooms (entry no longer possible due to preparations), the media room and finally through the tunnel to the pitch.

After the tour, we had a brief stop at the club shop before heading back to the museum. There, I had another unexpected experience – having lunch at the museum. The food selection was great, with four stalls offering different types of cuisine. However, I paid more attention to the drinks. The English are known for their love of beer, so it felt almost wrong that the only beer available throughout the day (both in the museum and later at the stadium) was Thai beer, a major sponsor of the club. It was a refreshing light lager, but it lacked that authentic English feeling.

As part of the experience, we were treated to a visit from club legends. During lunch, we had the chance to meet 1980s players Paul Canoville, Colin Pates, and John Bumstead. Each of them came up to our table, shook our hands, handed us an autograph card, and shared a few words. Later, we had an unexpected adventure when me and my father-in-law got stuck in a glass elevator with them on our way to the stadium. Fortunately, a security guard spotted us from outside and quickly initiated a “rescue.” After a few tense minutes, we were all safely back on the ground. Something I definitely did not have on my bucket list until that day.