A football fan from Stoke has been to every round of the UEFA Champions League this season without visiting the same country twice.
Rob Adcock, from Stoke-on-Trent, thought of the idea after making travel TikTok’s. He credits his wife with the initial idea, the rules were simple: go to every round of the competition without visiting the same country twice.
“The idea came about when I have been making TikTok travel videos for a couple of years now. My mate couldn’t go on his stag do because of Covid, so we ended up doing three countries in three days for under £300. We then stuck it on TikTok and it did quite well!
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“We wanted to do a series of content and my wife said, ‘What about going to every round of the Champions League?’ We thought, ‘Actually that could be quite good’.
“We did some research into it and it turns out the Champions League do a thing where they have a preliminary qualifying round and the last couple of years it’s been in Iceland.
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“On a random June day in Iceland, they had two games, like the champions of the Faroe Islands against the champions of Bosnia and Herzegovina or something like that. The winner goes to the final and once they win they go to the qualifying round.”
The Champions League is European football’s showpiece event but it was not all glamour on the journey. Rob was concerned at the prospect of missing out on tickets, only to find there were no tickets at the early stages of the competition.
“We thought, ‘We’ll book it and see what happens.’ It was a punt. I was a bit apprehensive. We turned up and the reason we didn’t need tickets was that there weren’t any. It was only the members of the clubs. We were the only football fans in the first round of this year’s Champions League.
(Image: FrontzoneSport via Getty Images)
“From there we went to Malta to see Hamrun Spartans against Maccabi Haifa. Again, we couldn’t get tickets and just turned up and hoped. All of a sudden it all kicked off, there was a proper load of crowd violence.
“The next minute, this flair came flying over. It turned out to be nothing too serious but at the time it was like, ‘Woah.’ They suspended the match and the players came over and tried to calm everyone down.”
The channel ‘robdidatiktok’ continued to grow and gather pace with many football fans curious to delve into the narratives and stories away from Europe’s elite. Next, he travelled to Poland. Away from the pretty churches of Krakow, Rob travelled to the south-east of the nation.
(Image: Getty Images)
“We then went to Wales and Scotland for Rangers. The group stage was Portugal; it was amazing. Then, the round of 16 was Italy. We went to see Lazio and that was an experience.
Lazio defeated Bayern Munich thanks to Ciro Immobile’s penalty. Now, Italy was ticked off the list.
Despite visiting a variety of countries Rob cited Denmark as the best experience as a football fan. He attended a match at Parken Stadium and was delighted at the experience.
(Image: Getty Images)
“Everyone seems to love Copenhagen but the way that they do football; every Premier League club should go over there and see what they do. I have never seen such a mixture of fans.
“If you go to a football match (In England) it is usually a bunch of 16/18-year-old lads and a smattering of families in the family stand. That is your general. Whereas you go to Denmark and it is everyone; different races, and backgrounds.
“I have never seen such a population of women at a football match!”
At the semi-final point, the draw was important. The challenge could have been ruined if two English clubs were drawn together with the final already set for a showdown at Wembley Stadium.
However, fortune was on his side as the English sides failed to progress – allowing Rob to visit France. Paris Saint-Germain were beaten by a spirited Borussia Dortmund side, setting up a final between Real Madrid and the Germans.
“I actually bought tickets (for the final) in the Borussia Dortmund end. I’ve been to see Real Madrid a couple of times with previous challenges. I’m not saying there is anything wrong with Real Madrid, they have an amazing team.
(Image: Borussia Dortmund via Getty Images)
“If you go and watch football there, it’s like polite clapping; like going to watch the ballet. It’s amazing football. For me, you go to football for the atmosphere and meet like-minded people.
“Everyone talks about Dortmund all the time. I always thought, ‘This is going to be the most overhyped thing you can go to. I don’t like going in with an idea. I was really expecting to be let down by Dortmund. It was just unbelievable.
“An hour before the match, the Yellow Wall was singing and dancing like it was 55 minutes into the match. I’ve never seen anything like it. The area around Dortmund reminds me of Stoke-on-Trent; it is a very industrial place. The people were similar and football was treated in a similar way.”
Although he enjoyed the experience, Rob stressed the logistical nightmare it posed. His TikTok channel now boasts 58.1k followers and 1.5 million likes. You can follow his content on @robdidatiktok.