Liverpool Fans Turn Plastic Cups into Travel Funds
Supporters collected thousands of returned beer cups at an away match, earning enough to cover trip expenses.
Liverpool fans attending a Champions League match in Austria have found an unconventional way to finance their trips: collecting discarded plastic beer cups. Supporters at the Raiffeisen Arena for the match against LASK were reportedly given approximately £2.50 for each cup they returned.
This initiative led some fans to accumulate dozens of cups, forming large "beer snakes" and celebrating their earnings. One fan told Daily Mail Sport that they had made as much as £250, a sum sufficient to cover the cost of their excursion. Social media posts showed fans posing with towering stacks of cups.
This is not the first time Liverpool supporters have benefited from such a scheme on their travels. Similar cup return policies were in place for their Europa League matches in Prague in March 2024 and in Leipzig in October 2024. While not a common practice in English football, some lower-league clubs, such as Lewes in the seventh tier, have also introduced similar recycling incentives.
The match itself saw Liverpool secure a decisive 6-3 victory over the Austrian champions. Young forward Bradley Barcola scored a hat-trick, while Florian Wirtz contributed with an assist. Lewis Koumas, filling in for an injured player, scored his first goal of the season, with two previous attempts disallowed for offside.