Two Europa League fixtures on a single Thursday (October 15) turned Portugal into a pilgrimage site for British football supporters, with nearly 10,000 travelling fans filling Lisbon and Leiria days before kick-off.
In Leiria, hundreds of Sunderland supporters were singing in the streets on Wednesday night, ahead of their club's first European away match in more than 53 years. Around 4,000 are estimated to have made the trip to watch Sunderland face Torreense at 5.45pm at the Estádio Dr. Magalhães Pessoa. The opposition is a proper underdog story: Torres Vedras-based Torreense play in Portugal's second division but qualified for Europe by winning last season's Portuguese Cup, and they opened with a 2-1 away win over Norway's Lillestrøm. They borrow Leiria's bigger ground for European nights.
The travel ripple effects were noticeable. FlixBus added over 35% more services between Leiria and the Lisbon and Porto airports for October 15-16, according to Presstur — worth knowing if you're moving between the cities this week.
Lisbon, meanwhile, hosted the bigger reunion. Around 5,000 Celtic fans travelled for the 8pm clash with Benfica at the Estádio da Luz, and many started their trip at the Estádio Nacional at Jamor, where queues formed outside the ground. The reason is written into Celtic folklore: it was at Jamor in 1967 that the "Lisbon Lions" beat Inter Milan 2-1 to become the first British club to win the European Cup. For many supporters, visiting that stadium matters as much as the match itself.
Benfica come into the game in form too, having won 2-0 away at AC Milan in their opener. Both Portuguese sides are chasing a second consecutive European win.
For travellers, this is a reminder of how far English and Scottish support travels — and how a fixture list can reshape a city's rhythm. If you're in Lisbon or Leiria around matchdays, expect busy bars, extra intercity buses, and a heavy green-and-white or red-and-white presence downtown. Even without a ticket, the pre-match atmosphere in Lisbon's city centre and around Leiria's compact old town is part of the experience. And if you fancy football history beyond the stadiums, Jamor's Estádio Nacional sits in a wooded valley just outside Lisbon and is easy to reach by train from Cais do Sodré.
