VIBORG FF
UEFA Europa Conference League play-off round second leg, Energi Viborg Arena, Thursday 25 August 2022, 7pm CEST (6pm BST)
West Ham United continue a second successive European tour on Thursday evening, when David Moyes and his squad head for Denmark.
The Hammers’ opponents will be Viborg FF, who qualified for the UEFA Europa Conference League by winning a one-game play-off at the end of their domestic league season, then reached this stage of the competition by defeating Sūduva of Lithuania (2-0 on aggregate) and B36 Tórshavn of the Faroe Islands (5-1 on aggregate).
Moyes' side took the first leg 3-1 at London Stadium, with goals from Gianluca Scamacca, Jarrod Bowen and Michail Antonio for West Ham cancelling out Jakob Bonde's header.
Viborg are competing in Europe for just the second time in the club’s 126-year history, having previously reached the UEFA Cup second round in 2000/01.
A city of just over 41,000 inhabitants, Viborg is the capital of Region Midtjylland in the centre of Denmark’s Jutland peninsula, and is one of the oldest large Viking settlements in the country, dating back to the 8th century.
The club’s home ground, Energi Viborg Arena, is situated just north of the city centre and has an all-seater capacity of 9,566, with around 1,100 Hammers fans expected to make the trip to Denmark.
How to get there…
Viborg itself does not have an airport, so you will need to fly into one of the three situated within driving distance.
Around 60 miles south of Viborg, Billund is most famous for LEGOLAND, but also has an international airport with direct Ryanair flights from London Stansted.
About the same distance to the north east of Viborg is Aalborg, which can be accessed via short stopover in a number of European cities, depending on which airline you use. Norwegian flies from Gatwick via Copenhagen, while KLM flies from Heathrow via Amsterdam.
And to complete a hat-trick, Aarhus airport is situated around 60 miles east of Viborg. Direct flights are available from Stansted with Ryanair.
From all three, you can take a taxi, hire a car or try your luck on the Danish long distance bus network. There is a direct train to Aarhus, but the airport is another 50-minute train journey from the city!
Where to stay…
Unsurprisingly, the vast majority of accommodation has already been booked by travelling West Ham United supporters!
There are a few options still available on the regular booking websites, but by the time you read this, even they may have been snapped up.
So, you may want to stay in one of the towns or cities within driving distance of Viborg, such as Aalborg, Aarhus, Herning, Hostelbro, Randers or Silkeborg.
What to do…
If you fly into Billund, then as mentioned you can take a trip to the iconic LEGOLAND, the family theme park focusing on the eponymous construction toy.
Viborg itself is famous for its 12th century Cathedral. However, only the crypt is original, as the building has been burned to the ground and rebuilt several times. It houses paintings by Joakin Skovgaard, who is also honoured with a museum next door.
Linked to the Cathedral is Viborg Katedralskole (cathedral school), which is the oldest educational institution in Denmark, dating back to 1100.
Ten miles west of Viborg are the Mønsted Kalkgruber, the world's largest lime pits and limestone mines, which can be toured between 10am-5pm each day.
What’s happened there before…
West Ham United have never visited Viborg previously, but we have been to Denmark on a number of occasions.
The first was in May 1927, when we won three friendly matches in Copenhagen. We returned in June 1930 and drew 3-3 with Copenhagen. In May and June 1948, we played five matches in Denmark, losing to Aarhus and Jydsk, but beating Esbjerg, Randers and Aalborg.
It would be 50 years until we returned, in July 1997, and lost 2-1 at Brøndby in a pre-season match.
Our most recent visit was in July 2011, when Freddie Sears’ late goal secured a 1-0 pre-season win at FC Copenhagen.
