Brighton players have bought tickets, T-shirts and scarves for more than 400 supporters travelling into the Arctic Circle for the first leg of their Conference League play-off against Norwegian club Tromso on Thursday.
A total of 407 tickets were sold for the match in Norway, with the squad choosing to reimburse fans following a quick turnaround in travel arrangements.
Captain Lewis Dunk explained that the squad wanted to thank supporters for making the long journey on short notice.
"The fans didn’t know where they were going to go until the last minute," Dunk said. "It’s a long trip and last-minute to organise so we as a group of players wanted to make a gesture by refunding their tickets and give them a little present. Hopefully they appreciate it and it’s the start of a good season and we all enjoy it along the way."
European campaign
Brighton & Hove Albion are returning to European football for their second campaign. In the 2023-24 season, the English Premier League club reached the last 16 of the Europa League before losing to Italian side Roma, having previously topped a group featuring Dutch team Ajax, French side Marseille and Greek outfit AEK Athens.
Opponents Tromso secured their place in the play-off tie after defeating Romanian team Cluj last week.
Seasonal ambitions
Dunk insisted that Brighton will not take the Norwegian opposition lightly despite their status as an established top-flight team.
"We’re not coming here and thinking it’s going to be easy," Dunk said. "It’s two games for a season’s work and we want to qualify for this competition. It’s the first game of the season. We’ve had a great pre-season and we’re raring to go."
"We’re an established Premier League side, finished high up in the table a lot of the time," Dunk added. "We’d back ourselves against anyone in this competition. Let’s hope it goes well, we take a result back home and finish the job next week."
