Brighton's players have covered the costs of tickets, T-shirts, and scarves for more than 400 supporters who traveled to Tromso, Norway, for the team's Europa Conference League playoff match. The club is participating in Europe for the second consecutive campaign, having reached the last 16 of the Europa League in the 2023-24 season.
Captain Lewis Dunk explained the team's motivation for the gesture ahead of the first leg of the playoff against Tromso. "The fans didn’t know where they were going to go until the last minute," Dunk said. "It’s a long trip and last-minute to organize so we as a group of players wanted to make a gesture by refunding their tickets and give them a little present."
The players hope the supporters appreciate the gesture. "Hopefully they appreciate it and it’s the start of a good season and we all enjoy it along the way," Dunk added.
Brighton sold 407 tickets for the match in Tromso, a city located within the Arctic Circle. The Norwegian team advanced to this tie after defeating Cluj of Romania. Dunk acknowledged the challenge ahead, stating, "We’re not coming here and thinking it’s going to be easy. It’s two games for a season’s work and we want to qualify for this competition."
Describing the team's readiness, Dunk mentioned, "It’s the first game of the season. We’ve had a great pre-season and we’re raring to go. We’re an established Premier League side, finished high up in the table a lot of the time. We’d back ourselves against anyone in this competition. Let’s hope it goes well, we take a result back home and finish the job next week."