06 July 2024 , 07:38
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Prince William will today be travelling to Dusseldorf to cheer on England during their quarter-final clash against Switzerland - and he’s sent the team an excited message of support
ngland will be roared on by Royalty and thousands of fans in their Euro 2024 quarter-final clash with Switzerland.
Prince William is travelling to Dusseldorf today to support Gareth Southgate’s side for the second time during the tournament. The Prince of Wales was in the stands to see England draw 1-1 with Denmark in Frankfurt during the group stage.
And he sent the players his congratulations when they came back from the dead to beat Slovakia 2-1 in Gelsenkirchen last Sunday. He wrote on X: “Emotional rollercoaster! Let’s go @England! Quarter finals here we come! W”. Now he will be urging Harry Kane and his team mates to go one step further and secure a place in the semi-final against Holland or Turkey in Dortmund next Wednesday.
But to do that they will have to roll over a well-fancied Swiss side who beat the holders Italy 2-0 to reach the quarter-finals. William, who is the FA President, will be one of around 50,000 supporters in the city for the big game.
England received an official allocation of just 6,732 tickets for the 47,000-seater Dusseldorf Arena. But it is believed at least 20,000 supporters will be inside the stadium, after snapping up tickets on resale websites, where some are priced at more than 20 times their face value.
England fans were left in high spirits following Jude Bellingham’s wonder goal against Slovenia ( Image: Andy Stenning/Daily Mirror)
Four of the first fans to arrive after flying in from Birmingham yesterday (FRI) were pals Dave Young, Colin Bahrey, Maurice Dibbs, and Lee Freestone, all 42, and from Leicester. They had paid more than £700 for 100 Euro tickets on an online resale site. And with flights and hotels on top, the cost of their two day trip was more than £1,500,
But as England trailed Slovakia with just seconds to go last Sunday, they feared they had wasted their money. Thankfully Jude Bellingham stepped up to score a wonder goal to send the game into extra time and set up a dramatic 2-1 win.
Dave, an RAF map maker, said: “It is fair to say we have never celebrated an England goal quite like that before. Jude made us all feel a lot happier about the trip.”
Maurice, a quality controller, said before Bellingham’s goal they were convinced they would be watching Slovakia v Switzerland in Dusseldorf.
“At one point we were thinking of coming along and wearing Switzerland shirts” he laughed.
But now they are confident of an England win tonight (SAT). Lee, a builder, said: “We have been so poor in the earlier games but I think this is the moment it all comes together.” Businessman Colin added: “Hopefully we will be a lot more positive and get the win.”
England fans Julian Pottle, 52, wife Helen, 47, son Charlie, 17 and daughter Summer, 13, flew over from Sydney, Australia for the tournament.
Julian, a QPR supporter, said: “It’s a long way to come and we haven’t played well but we’ve all still got faith. If we can win against the Swiss we can go all the way. We’ve already got our tickets for the semi-final and final so fingers crossed.”
The family spent around £30,000 on flights, hotels, and tickets for their trip of a lifetime. Julian, who owns an auctioneers in Australia with Helen after emigrating from England, said: “It’s been worth it. I know it’s a lot of money but we’ve all had a great time. The atmosphere has been amazing.”
England have lost just one of their last 24 meetings with Switzerland and despite a series of poor performances in the tournament, the Three Lions are firm favourites to triumph tonight (SAT), in what will be Gareth Southgate’s 100th game in charge. And the bookies have even made England the 4/1 favourites to lift the trophy in Berlin on July 14.