++ [ originally posted by sehnsucht79
] ++
Buying tickets
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There are various ways of getting tickets for a Serie A game. Many clubs sell advanced bookings on their official websites (see below), but for less prestigious matches you can buy tickets on the day at the stadium or in special kiosks in the city. Check newspaper ‘Gazzetta dello Sport’ on match day and it will tell you which tickets are still available and at what price.
If the game is sold out, then it is always possible to buy tickets from a tout outside the ground. Obviously this is always a risk, especially for the big name encounters, but if the match is not of popular interest then people regularly hire out their season tickets for one game. You give them the money and some form of identification and they give you the pass. You return it after the game where you will receive your ID back. It’s perhaps best to brush up on your Italian if you are going to go down this road.
Tickets range from £10-£20 for the Curva (the area behind the goals where the hardcore fans tend to set up), up to £80 for Distinti and Tribuna (the seats along the sides of the field). The tickets for the big games can cost more, but some clubs run special offers for children and even a discount if you are female (Cagliari, Siena, Brescia and Parma among others). Don’t worry if your tickets show two non-consecutive numbers as they are in fact adjacent seats.
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What time are the matches?
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The Serie A and B calendar is now staggered to spread between Friday and Sunday, though the exact dates and times are not released by the Italian FA until around two weeks beforehand.
Most Serie A ties are played on Sunday afternoon at 3pm local time, though there are two evening games at 8.30pm, one on Saturday and one on Sunday, and a 6pm kick-off on the Saturday. The evening ties tend to be the biggest matches of the weekend, but also take European fixtures into account. For example, if Juventus are scheduled to play in the Champions’ League on Tuesday, their Serie A game will likely be brought forward to Saturday.
Serie B is not so easy to predict. One tie will be played on Friday evening at 8.45pm, another at the same kick-off time on Monday night. The remaining matches are at 8.30pm Saturday, although this tends to be restored to 3pm Sunday during the cold Winter months.
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Club contacts (Channel 4 is not responsible for the content of third party sites)
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Not all clubs sell their tickets on-line, but most can be bought from companies
www.ticketweb.it (Inter, Milan and international games – written in English),
http://www.ticketone.it (Lazio, Inter, Parma, Palermo, Cagliari, Livorno and Reggina),
http://www.bestticket.it (Bologna, Milan) and
http://www.listicket.it/eng/calcio/index.php?S=&lang=EN (Fiorentina, Juventus, Roma, Lazio, Sampdoria, Lecce, Ascoli, Torino).
Juventus tickets can be bought online at the club’s official website
http://www.juventus.com/uk/fanzone/detail.aspx?lml_language_id=0&trs_id=1533000 (handy as the instructions are in English), online on
http://www.listicket.it/juventus_fc/ or from a number of outlets in northern Italy. The Bianconeri website gives you a list of the closest ticket offices at
http://juventus.informadove.it/ita/localizza.asp. The first menu asks you for the city you are in, the second for the street you are located in. This site
http://www.listicket.it/index.php3?lang=EN will also give you details on where to buy tickets for Roma, Lazio, Lecce, Ascoli, Torino and Fiorentina games. Some fan clubs (like Juventus Club Londra at
http://www.juventus.co.uk ) can also get you tickets to games from Britain.
Inter sell tickets for their games on the official website, which has an English language section here
http://www.inter.it/en/biglietti/acquista.html. It also provides a list of 400 outlets around Italy.
Milan’s official website provides details of their games at the San Siro on
http://www.bestticket.it/newBt/default.asp?shop_id=MilanEng
Brescia's website is not available in English, but it does have a list of kiosks in the city where you can buy tickets at
http://www.bresciacalcio.it, then click on 'Biglietteria' on the right hand side of the screen.
Cagliari's tickets can be bought at the city's club point at Viale La Playa 15 or online at
www.ticketone.it.
Chievo Verona sell tickets on their official website with English instructions at
http://www.chievoverona.it/shop/indexShop.asp?cat=b.
Livorno's tickets are sold through
http://www.ticketone.it, but there is also a list of kiosks where you can pick them up in the city at
http://www.livornocalcio.it (click on the side menu 'Acquisto Biglietti').
Messina tickets can be bought at a number of Lottomatica centres in the city, listed here
http://www.mondomessina.it/biglietteria/default.asp, or you can e-mail ahead to
[email protected] to ask for more information.
Siena provide a list of prices and kiosks where you can buy tickets at
http://www.acsiena.it/biglietti.php3, but their official website does not have an English language option.
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Travel Packages (Channel 4 is not responsible for the content of third party sites)
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If you would prefer to go through an agency you can get travel packages and sometimes just the tickets from the following companies.
Football Encounters
http://www.footballencounters.co.uk Tel. 0870 760 5556
Italiatour
http://www.Italiatour.com Tel. 01883 625222
Matchdays.com
http://www.matchdays.com Tel. 0161 4911999
Liaisons Abroad
http://www.liaisonsabroad.com
Fanfare Events
http://www.fanfare-events.com Tel. 0161 4370002
BAC sport
http://www.bacsport.co.uk
Mission Impossible
http://www.mission-impossible.co.uk
Eurofootball
http://www.euro-football.co