Six European clubs who have made their home a Fortress

We all know there are some football grounds that nobody likes visiting. You wouldn’t go to Stoke on a cold Tuesday night they say. Well, have you considered a bitter Saturday afternoon in Rostov? Or perhaps the dread of a warm Mediterranean evening faced by Gate 7?

This season, as you’d expect, Juventus, Bayern, and Barcelona have continued their dominance on home territory – they’ve always been regarded as football fortresses, but the importance of a home result has also been noted by a number of other clubs, and they’re reaping the rewards.

Here are 5 clubs from all around Europe who have made their home stadiums a fortress.

Leicester City

You’d have to have be heartless, or a Forest fan, to not enjoy Leicester’s march towards Premier League glory and a large part of that is down to their terrific form at the King Power Stadium. They require just nine points to seal the title, bringing the trophy to a stadium which has seen the dark days of League One and Championship football.

After last season’s miraculous escape from the drop, the Foxes have lost just one game this season, all the way back in September when they were dispatched 5-2 against Arsenal. Those five goals contribute to just 11 conceded at home and with only five games left, they look all set for the title, the first in their history.

All season in the Leicester camp, thoughts of winning the title have been muted but the players and manager have been very vocal about the support they have received. Mahrez said back in January, “We’ve only lost one game at home, so that shows how important the support has been.”

Those fans are now desperate for a ticket for their last game of the season against Everton, with the match selling out in minutes and tickets being sold for as much as £15,000 on ticket marketplaces.

Rangers

It has been a real fall from grace for Rangers over the past five years, but after a season where they’ve only dropped two points at home all season, they’ve finally sealed their place back in the SPL. Despite being in the doldrums for the past few seasons, crowds of over 40,000 have continually clicked through the turnstiles at Ibrox, inspiring the 68 players who’ve represented the club since their drop to the lowest tier of Scottish football.

Ibrox has always been a difficult ground to visit and along with Celtic Park they were two of the most feared grounds in Europe. During their hayday in the SPL they won trophy after trophy, including a staggering 52 titles at the ground as well as 30 Scottish Cups and 27 Scottish League Cups.

This season, only Morton have taken a point from them at home, with the club doing their utmost to bring top flight football back to the club. They’ll be desperate for that form to continue into the latter stages of the year and next.

Rostov

There will be very few who have even heard of FC Rostov, never mind recognise the fantastic bit of form they’re in at the Olimp-2 stadium. Despite a capacity of just 16,000 and few players of any note, the team sit above Zenit, above CSKA, and above Locomotiv Moscow, having gone unbeaten at home in the league.

Due to the winter break, the Russian League is far from over, but if Leicester can storm all the way to the title then why can’t Rostov? The club have never finished inside the top six in the league, and generally make the headlines for all the wrong reasons. Only in September, Rostov players were refusing to play for the club in a dispute over unpaid wages, yet now they’re flying high.

The club are following a similar pattern to the Foxes, they narrowly avoided relegation last season and have defied the odds to stand firm at the top. All from the little city of Rostov-on-Don.

Olympiacos

Olympiacos are well known for their atmosphere and it’s once again contributing towards winning a 44th title – their seventh in a row!

The club have won all 14 of their home games so far this season and have conceded just five in the process. If there’s one stadium in world football which can truly be classed as a fortress, this is it.

Sadly, that form didn’t transcend into the Champions League, losing two of their three homes games 3-0 but up against the likes of Panetolikos and Platanias, there’s no trouble for Marco Silva’s men.

Every week the fans create a cacophony of noise; 30,000 intense fans looming down on the pitch, intimidating even the most hardened of players. They’re up there with the likes of Galatasaray, Fenerbahce, and those cold Tuesday night’s in Stoke. The Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium is not for the faint hearted.

FC Basel

Despite having 10 games to go, FC Basel have virtually wrapped up the Swiss Super League and in 14 league matches, they’ve only lost one. In fact, since the 2011/12 season, the club have lost just seven league games at home.

They’ve been a regular on the European circuit over the last few years, and their fans carry quite the reputation. At home, this equates to 38,000 of them cramming into St Jakob-Park, flares clouding the sky and flags creating a sea of terror for both opposing fans and players.

Where people claim the Swiss are neutral, the fans based in Basel certainly aren’t. There rivalry with FC Zurich is huge. The teams drew 2-2 just last weekend, causing clashes outside the ground between fans.

On the pitch they’ve been magnificent this season, largely thanks to Marc Janko who has bagged 16 goals in just 17 league games for the club, and their run in the Europa League could only be halted by Sevilla, one of the favourites to win the tournament.

The club’s fans even stopped a match once by throwing hundreds of tennis balls onto the pitch to protest transfer of the match due to a tennis tournament.

Sevilla

If Sevilla’s away form was the same as their home, they’d be sitting pretty at the top of La Liga with 78 points. Sadly, away from the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium they’re pretty terrible having failed to win all season.

At home it’s a different story, they’ve come out on top 13 out of 16 times with only Barca and Real Madrid having better records. That’s transcended onto the European stage where, as already mentioned, they remain real contenders for the Europa League.

The stadium itself has some really intimidating features. Dating back to 1957 fans are incredibly close to the action and on European nights the sound is phenomenal. That helped them win the Europa League last season, going unbeaten at home throughout it, while in the league they only lost one game.

2016 has been another fantastic season for them at La Bombonera, and should it continue they could well still see themselves in the top three come the end of the season.