Away Days: Experiencing Football on the Road – March 2025

By David J. Richter

To sports fans from Europe, the term “away days” probably rings a few bells, be it from having participated in them in the past or from just hearing about them one way or another. In America, because of the sheer size of the country, I think a lot of regular participation in away days is much less common. In Europe, away days are probably mostly associated with football/soccer, but they are really an occurrence in almost every organized league-based sport, no matter the level of play. For me, away days (or Auswärtsfahrten/Auswärtsspiele in German) were more synonymous with ice hockey back home in Germany. My favorite football team’s home games were already two and a half hours away and, quite frankly, a bit out of budget for my family when I was growing up.

The local hockey team was right around the corner and tickets were comparatively cheap. In middle and high school, I regained interest in following the team again, which led to me attending nearly all away games over the span of three or so years, spending close to three hours on the road every week to watch my team play. While this might sound crazy to some – and quite frankly, it somewhat is – it also is a heck of a lot of fun. You get to see a bunch of people and become friends with them, both from your team’s fanbase and the team’s management and staff, as well as people involved with other teams. On top of that, you also get to travel to a bunch of new places, try new foods and drinks, and thoroughly enjoy yourself.

As such, when I got to Korea and started watching sports here, of course, I immediately became interested in the idea of traveling to away games as well. Now it is not as easy as it was back home, having no access to a car, being busier in school than I had been before, not having pre-existing connections to people that are interested in the idea as much as I am, etc. This, however, did not stop me from giving it a shot. So finally this past season, I gave it a try and have, so far, traveled to two Gwangju FC away games – one in Daejeon and one in Jeonju – with varying degrees of success. So what is it like here in Korea?

Generally speaking, I think it is sort of a 30,000-foot view. It is not all too different, but then again, everything is just a bit different. Now keep in mind that I am comparing mid-level German ice hockey with the highest level of play in Korean football, so some things that I bring up here might be obvious to fans who have followed a higher-level team back home.

First, ticketing in Korea is a bit of a nightmare. Granted, K League matches rarely, if ever, sell out, so this ticketing step could probably simply be skipped. Once I get more used to this whole ticketing thing, that is what I might start doing. However, if you want to make 100 percent sure that you can get tickets, and the right ones too (that is, in the away end of the stadium), then booking online is the way to go.

The K League does not, to the best of my knowledge, have a centralized or standardized ticketing system. When going to Daejeon, we had to download a banking app to get tickets. Even after trying for quite a bit, my Korean friend and I still could not figure it out. So, we had to call customer support, who, even after elevating the ticket, had to call us back to get it all figured out. In all fairness, Jeonju was not as easy; it seemed so much more difficult than it has to be. If you want to be sure to get a ticket, especially if the game is somewhat special and runs the risk of getting sold out, book online; if not, it might not be worth the trouble.

Now, if you have a car, getting there is really straightforward. If you don’t, however, it gets a bit more difficult. Of course, there are all the buses and trains going everywhere, and they are the best (and possibly only) choice. But there are some caveats that come with that: getting back home. Often K League games are played late in the evening, meaning full time is reached very near the time the last train or bus is to depart. So, with everybody trying to catch a taxi once the game is over, there is a real risk of not making it back home. The first time, we made it to the last train with only about five minutes to spare. The second time, we missed the last bus back home by a mile and had to emergency book a room, so be prepared for that.

There might be a charter bus organized by the active fan scene here in Gwangju that I do not yet know about, but that would also be limiting in several ways. They might go there late to only see the game, taking away from a sightseeing opportunity, or they might want to stay a bit late to celebrate the victory. So, long story short, be well prepared and be aware that there is a chance you will have to pivot plans and book a room.

The thing that, so far, has been most disappointing to me is the way the away fans are accommodated in the stadiums. There is segregation between the fan bases, which to be fair is common in Europe as well, although I doubt there would be fights breaking out between fan bases here. As such, if you book a ticket in the away end, it will only be possible for you to walk around a single block once inside the stadium. Now that is not a big issue except for one reason: food. Both in Daejeon and Jeonju, the away block only had a single convenience store in the seating area for away fans, and it had only convenience store food.

There were other options available outside, but those were located all the way on the other end of the stadium, meaning that you would miss some of the game if you decided to go there – even if you did so during halftime. Home fans have food trucks either at their blocks inside the grounds or just outside of them, but there was no such thing for away fans both times I went, which is quite disappointing.

Lastly, I want to talk about the experience once you are actually at the game, and quite honestly, it is really fun. Gwangju might not have the biggest fan scene here in Korea – and therefore not the biggest following when playing in another city – but there are still traveling fans, both the more casual ones and those from the active fan scene (“ultras”). This makes for a fun and diverse group of people. You can more or less pick how involved you want to be (the closer to the ultras with their drums and flags you get, the louder it will be and the more you will be expected to cheer).

“You also get to travel to a bunch of new places, try new foods and drinks, and thoroughly enjoy yourself.”

While the level of play might not be as high as it is back in Europe, essentially the experience of going to a game, especially one on an away day, is quite similar. You can watch the team you like play and give it their all, while being surrounded by a bunch of people who are crazy enough to spend their weekend and money to travel after their team and cheer them on – just like me. And while my Korean is not good enough to overcome the language barrier completely, I have still had a bunch of fun interactions with other fans along the way. With all that, I definitely plan to go again, and I hope I have convinced a few more people to also give it a try, be it for Gwangju FC, the Kia Tigers, the AI Peppers, or any other team that you have chosen as yours.

For anyone who is really interested in giving it a go, the next opportunities for seeing Gwangju FC play K League 1 matches away from home are listed below.