Camilla Jessen
With only 480 tickets available for the Europa League semi-final near the Arctic Circle, desperate fans got creative.
A Norwegian football fan offered an unusual trade to secure a ticket for the Europa League semi-final second leg between Bodo/Glimt and Tottenham Hotspur, set to take place near the Arctic Circle on Thursday night, Reuters reports.
With only 480 tickets available and around 50,000 fans eager to attend, Torbjørn Eide—a production manager at a fish farm in Senja—found a creative way in.
A self-described “micro-enthusiast,” Eide offered five kilograms of boknafisk, a traditional Norwegian dried fish delicacy worth nearly 2,500 kroner ($243), in exchange for a seat at the match.
“We produce the best boknafisk in Norway, so I thought maybe someone in Bodø would want it,” Eide told Norwegian broadcaster NRK.
Luckily, Øystein Aanes, who had a spare ticket after his brother couldn’t attend, “took the bait,” according to Reuters.
“I thought it was funny,” Aanes told NRK.
Inspired by Eide’s fish-for-football swap, fellow fan Nils Erik Oskal offered up five kilograms of reindeer meat, valued at about 1,000 kroner ($100)—and also quickly scored a ticket.
It didn’t take long. Someone took the bait again,” he said, adding, “It doesn’t matter what I gave. I get to experience something amazing.
Tottenham leads the tie after a 3-1 win in London, but Bodo/Glimt, one of the tournament’s surprise performers, has already knocked out the likes of Twente, Olympiacos, and Lazio—proving they’re capable of more upsets.
