Front Row View to a Soccer Match

Last week we went to a soccer game.  It was on my list of things to do in Baku, so when we heard the Celtic Football Club from Scotland was coming to Baku as part of the Champions League, we jumped at the chance to go.

Jeremy at the stadium entrance

We did not buy tickets in advance.  I had assumed there would be plenty of seats available, but it turned out to be a packed crowd.  Luckily, our friends arrived early and bought tickets for our group before they sold out.  We looked at the tickets and thought "Score!  We're in the first row."  What we didn't realize until we sat down was the first row was at field level, and unless the ball was kicked into the air, we couldn't actually see it at all!

Tight security monitored the sold-out crowd

There was another interesting aspect to our seats.  Azerbaijan is very security conscious.  Hopefully you can see in the photo above the line of neon green along the bottom of the stadium seats.  Those were security guards forming a ring to prevent anyone from coming onto the field.  There was one guard perhaps every 10 feet, so as we were straining to follow the action on the field while not being able to see the ball, we had security guards staring right back at us!  Plus, a guard was standing directly in my line of sight to one of the goals, so I also had to look around him whenever the ball was at that end of the field.  

Field view, obstructed by security guard and field barriers

Despite these setbacks, we had a fun time.  I'm not sure I've ever heard such a loud, enthusiastic crowd at a sporting event.  The crowd roared every time the Azerbaijani team seemed within reach of scoring.  But sadly that never happened. The game ended with a score that makes non-soccer fans shake their heads:  0-0.