The 10 longest away days ever recorded in football history | OneFootball

Football fans are committed people, willing to sacrifice their hard-earned cash, and weekends, to watch their beloved team play home and away. Whether it's one single fan travelling to support his local non-league side, or a group of thousands travelling to fill an away end and create an intimidating atmosphere for their opponents, football fans give up hours of their spare time just for the love of the beautiful game.

But what is the furthest that soccer teams have had to travel for away games? And are there away locations so obscure, and journeys so difficult, that even the most die-hard away fan wouldn't travel to? GIVEMESPORT has decided to take a look and find out exactly what the top 10 of the longest away days ever recorded are in the history of football. Taking inspiration from a TikTok post by Risingballers, we decided to find out which team has travelled the most number of miles to an away game, crowning them the champions of the longest away day ever recorded in football history. If the distances travelled by the away side haven't been mentioned in the official sources down below, then we have used online maps to calculate the one-way distance the team has travelled.

10 Luch Vladivostok vs Zenit St. Petersburg

4062 miles (6537km)

Starting this list at number ten is a tie played in the top tier of Russian football, as giants Zenit travelled all the way east to face Luch Vladivostok. The game took place in the Premier Liga, the highest division of Russian football, back in 2008. The visitors Zenit are footballing royalty in Russia, having won the competition 10 times, and are owned and sponsored by the Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom. Zenit are based in Saint Petersburg, rather obviously, the second-largest city in Russia after the capital Moscow, with a population of roughly 5.6 million residents as of 2021 Saint Petersburg is the fourth-most populous city in Europe.

They took the 4,000-mile trip east, a ridiculous 123-hour drive, or most likely, an 11-hour flight time, across to the far east of Vladivostok. Vladivostok is the second-largest city in the Far Eastern Federal District, as well as the Russian Far East, after Khabarovsk - a name that you might want to remember for an entry a little later on in this list. In what will become a rather frustrating theme for the away sides on this list, the game finished 0-0 making the journey seem like a bit of a waste! Luch only played top-flight football between 2006 and 2008, meaning the two sides only faced off twice, and in the reverse fixture just three months later Luch fans who made the trip wouldn't have been best pleased, as they witnessed their side take an 8-1 thrashing from the hosts.

9 CMS Oissel vs US Matoury

4,363 miles (7,022km)

The first of many French Cup entries on this list comes in at number nine, as Oissel hosted US Matoury. The visitors are a small French Guianese side, playing at the top level in their local competition, the French Guiana Régional 1, the highest tier of men's football in French Guiana. Lying just north of Brazil in South America, Matoury is a commune of French Guiana, an overseas region and department of France located in South America. Matoury is a southern suburb of Cayenne, the largest city of French Guiana. Cayenne – Félix Eboué Airport, the main international airport of French Guiana, is located in the commune of Matoury, meaning the team didn't have far to go... in the first part of their journey at least.

The quickest possible way to complete the journey would be an eight-and-a-half hour flight to Paris-Orly Airport in the capital, travelling over 4,000 miles, before completing the short 90-minute drive to Oissel - a suburban and light industrial town situated in the northern region of Normandy. The game was played at the Stade Marcel Billard, a 4,000-seater stadium that is home to CMS Oissel, a side in the Championnat National 3, the fifth division of the French football league system.

This monstrous journey made for a heart-warming story, as the US Mastoury coach, François Louis-Marie, estimated the club’s trip cost almost half their annual budget of 50,000 euros – but it didn’t all come from the league. “There is travel, accommodation, healthcare, thermal clothing, even new boots for some of the lads,” he said. “And we wanted to bring the rest of the squad, so we could foster team spirit and show the youngsters what’s out there in the world. With the support of the local community, we raised an extra 14,800 euros, in addition to the bursary.” It was all worth it in the end for the visitors – as they beat the home side on penalties.

8 US Macouria vs FC Martigues

4,373 miles (7,039km)

Breaking into the top eight of the list is a journey that was so far, that the visitors needed vaccinations against yellow fever! The second Coupe de France fixture so far, and a similar journey to the previous entry, as FC Martigues travelled to US Macouria. Firstly, the visitors, FC Martigues, play in the Championnat National, commonly referred to as simply National or Division 3 as it is the third division of the French football league system behind Ligue 1 and Ligue 2, and are based in Martigues, a commune northwest of Marseille and around 280km from Monaco on the southern coast of the country.

They had to make the arduous 4,300-mile journey south-west across the Atlantic Ocean to face US Macouria - a team that is based less than a 30-minute drive away from the previous entry on the list, US Matoury - a French Guiana football team also playing in the French Guiana Régional 1. Macouri is a commune of French Guiana, it's one of the smallest cities of French Guiana and also lies just north of Brazil. The town is separated in the east from Matoury - home of US Matoury from entry number 6 - by the Larivot Bridge, crossing the Cayenne River. The game took place in front of 2,000 people at the Stade Municipal, as the visitors came away with a convincing 3-0 win, making their trip - a 4-hour train journey to Paris, followed by a 9-hour flight - worthwhile.

7 Baltika Kaliningrad vs SKA-Khabarovsk

4,362 miles (7,020km)

Next up is just the second entry on this list that isn't contested in the French Cup. Baltika Kaliningrad and SKA-Khabarovsk have faced off a whopping 32 times since 2007, with the latest coming as a 2-0 win to Baltika in March 2023, as the two sides faced off in the Russian First League. Until May 2023, both sides found themselves in the second tier of Russian professional football, plying their trade in the Russian First League. However, despite their closeness in skill, the two clubs couldn't be further apart geographically.

Kaliningrad, which until 1946 was known as Konigsberg, is the largest city and administrative centre of Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave between Lithuania and Poland, and home of Baltika Kaliningrad. The city sits about 412 miles west of mainland Russia, on the edge of the Baltic Sea. If you travel 4,000 miles east of there, you will find Khabarovsk, home of the visitors SKA-Khabarovsk. Khabarovsk is the largest city and the administrative centre of Khabarovsk Krai in Russia, and is located 19 miles from the China–Russia border. As of 2021, it had a massive population of 617,441.

This journey is not one for the faint-hearted, and could only be undertaken by the most extreme of away fans. The trip would take over 5 days by car, or by plane, the team would have to take a 7-hour flight from Khabarovsk to Moscow, before completing another 2-hour flight from Moscow to Kaliningrad Airport. Luckily for fans of these two sides though, in May 2023, Baltika secured a promotion to the Russian Premier League for the first time in 25 years, meaning they will no longer have to face off twice a year!

6 Luch Vladivostok vs Baltika Kaliningrad

4,571 miles (7,357km)

To be a loyal fan of Baltika you certainly have to be hardcore, as entry number five is the second time in a row that the Western-Russian club features on this list. This time around they face another club from the far side of the country, as they come up against Luch Vladivostok, who sit 6,441 miles to the east of them.

As with the last entry, both sides face off in the Russian First Division - the second tier of professional football in the country. The very first time they played was in March 2018, making the travel worthwhile as both sides played out a thrilling... 0-0 draw. Astonishingly, three of the four times these clubs have faced each other, the tie has ended in a 0-0 draw, which equates to over 38,600 miles of travelling combined for a total of zero goals scored. The only fixture that saw goals between the two sides was in a 2-0 away victory for Luch later that year - meaning that either home or way, Baltika fans have never seen their side score a goal in any of their fixtures played against Luch.

5,889 miles (9,479km)

In what is already the third Coupe de France entry on this list, we see Ligue 1 side Lille host an overseas French club making yet another incredible journey for the competition. As the winners of the competition in 2011, Lille have had some of the world's best players come through their ranks in previous years, and continue to play in France's premier division. Based in the city of Lille in the northern part of France near the border with Belgium, together with its French suburbs and exurbs, the Lille metropolitan area is the fourth most populated in France, as of 2020, after Paris, Lyon, and Marseille.

They welcome AS Excelsior, a side who play their football in the Réunion Premier League, also known as Championnat de La Réunion de football, the top division of the football league system in the French overseas territory of Reunion - an island in the Indian Ocean located approximately 422 miles east of Madagascar, with a large population of just over 870,000. Excelsior had already beaten Reunionese teams AS St Philippe, Trois Bassins FC and AS Saint-Suzanne, before making the 9,400km trip to beat French amateur side Avoine on penalties in the seventh round. They were the only team from an overseas territory to make the eighth round but unfortunately couldn't make it any further, as they lost 4-1 to the home side.

4 Racing Club vs Celtic

7,008 miles (11,278km)

Number four on the list is the first entry to include a British club - and the first not to take place in the 21st century - as Celtic travelled to Buenos Aires in Argentina to face Racing Club Avellaneda. Between 1960 and 2004, the champions of Europe and South America competed for the UEFA-endorsed European/South American Cup – or Intercontinental Cup. After beating Inter Milan in the 1967 European Cup Final, the Glasgow side were crowned champions of Europe and therefore travelled to face Racing Club in the annual European/South American Cup.

The fans flew to South America on a journey that took them an impressive 29 hours, which at the time was the longest ever flight to leave Glasgow, on a flight that took them via the Canary Islands, Sal in the Cape Verde Islands, Recife in Brazil, before finally landing into Buenos Aires. Having won the home leg 1-0, the 106 devoted fans that made the journey had to see their side slump to a 2-1 defeat, leaving the two-legged tie in the balance with a 2-2 aggregate score. Due to the lack of an away goals rule, a replay was called and a third game was necessary to divide the teams and decide the winners, which ended up being Racing Club thanks to a 1-0 victory on the not-so-neutral territory of Uruguay.

3 Noisy-le-Sec vs AS Tefana

9,900 miles (16,000km)

AS Tefana comes from the island of Tahiti in French Polynesia, right in the centre of the Pacific Ocean. As a side originating from a French overseas country, they are entered into the Coupe de France in the seventh round, along with many other amateur and non-league teams, in their first opportunity to meet the big boys of the competition. Some of France's smaller colonies – tiny nations mainly originating from the Caribbean, Pacific and Indian Ocean – are given the same sporting rights as those from the country's mainland, leading to plenty of teams from such regions entering the Coupe de France at this stage.

AS Tefana travelled almost 16,000 km (just under 10,000 miles) to visit the Parisian suburb Noisy-le-Sec for their French Cup match, and almost made their long journey worthwhile, holding onto a 1-0 lead until the hosts scored an equaliser in the 75th minute, before going on to lose 2-1 in extra time. The 21-hour plane journey takes two changeovers and involves four different airports in total, leaving Paris-Orly airport and travelling across the Atlantic Ocean to Los Angeles International Airport, followed by a short internal flight to San Fransisco International, before the final 8-hour leg of the journey to Tahiti.

2

10,131 miles (16,305km)

The second Coupe de France fixture in a row comes in at number two, narrowly missing out on the top spot. French 5th division side US Thionville - based in a small town just on the German border - travelled a whopping 10,000 miles to face Hienghene Sport. Hienghene Sport, known in Fwâi language as Hyehen Sport as it reads on their badge, is a New Caledonian football team from Hienghene, playing in the New Caledonia Super Ligue - the top division of the New Caledonian Football Federation in New Caledonia.

Hienghene hosted the game at their home stadium, the Stade de Hienghene, which has a capacity of 1,800. Ironically, the commune itself only has a population of just over 2,400 people, meaning that almost all of its residents can fit inside the stadium! Hienghene are a good side in their own right, previously winning the Oceania Champions League and competing in the FIFA Club World Cup.

For Thionville, the fastest possible way to complete the journey is a 25-hour trip, flying for 12 hours from Paris Charles de Gaulle airport in the French capital to the only stop in Singapore, before heading on to the final leg of the journey with a 9-hour flight to Noumea. To complete the fixtures, the non-professional players all got a week off from their jobs, and the French Football Federation had to fund the trip, to avoid Thionville going bankrupt. The trip was worth it though, as the visitors came away with a 4-0 win and progressed through to the next round.

10,651 miles (17,142km)

And taking the top spot is yet another fixture in the French Cup, the fifth on this list, as FC Trelissac travelled to Magenta Noumea in November 2014 in the seventh round. The 21,303-mile round trip is the largest away distance on record, and luckily it was worth it, as the visitors came away 3-0 victors and progressed through to the next round of the cup.

Magenta are based in Noumea, the capital and largest city of the French special collectivity of New Caledonia - a territory of overseas France in the southwest Pacific Ocean, about 750 miles east of Australia - and is also the largest francophone city (a city that speaks fluently in French) in Oceania. They play in the New Caledonia Super Ligue, the top division of the New Caledonian Football Federation in New Caledonia, playing their home matches at the Stade Numa-Daly Magenta - the same stadium as the previous entrants on this list, Hienghene Sport - in front of an impressive 10,000 people.

The visitors FC Trelissac play in the Championnat National 2, commonly known as National 2, a football league competition that serves as the fourth tier of the French football league system behind Ligue 1, Ligue 2, and the Championnat National. They had to complete a similar 27-hour journey across to New Caledonia as the previous entry, but this time stopped off in Japan, even requiring specialised phone chips for their transit through Asia.