Real Sociedad are working with their City Council to prepare a ‘security plan’ for Bournemouth’s trip to the Spanish club in the Europa League next week.
Diario Vasco report that while the club are preparing for Sunday’s match against Atlético Madrid, they are also keeping a close eye on next week.
That sees them start their Europa League campaign against Bournemouth at Anoeta. A security plan is being drawn up between them and the City Council as they’re anticipating 1,900 Bournemouth fans for the game.
1,900 travelling fans
The belief is that Bournemouth’s fans will travel in force ‘filling with the excitement’ of their first European campaign.
Real Sociedad are ready to welcome them, particularly as there will be no ‘ultras’. That’s come as a relief to everyone in the city.
As of yesterday, Bournemouth have sold 1,700 of the 1,900 tickets – priced at €35 – provided by the Spanish club. But a sell-out is expected at the Spanish club given the importance of the fixture for Bournemouth.
Welcoming fans is now old hat for the Spanish side, who have entered official European competitions on 21 occasions in their history. Five of those have seen them appearing in the European Cup or the Champions League.
English tradition
Playing English teams is also something of a tradition for them. They have faced English teams 10 times in their history to date.
Eight of those have been against Manchester United alone, including a 1-1 draw in Spain in the 2024/25 campaign. There was also a famous two-legged tie against Liverpool in the 1975/76 UEFA Cup.
The Spanish cities tend to take an easier approach to policing English fans than their European counterparts. Italy, for example, tend to take a very no-nonsense approach to the matter. That involves banning alcohol and basically locking down the cities for the day.
That’s unlikely to be the case for Bournemouth, even if Sociedad are helping to draw up a security plan for their visit.
