Whether you want to relax, explore, or adventure, there are several reasons to go on holiday. However, for avid football fans, one of the best reasons to go on holiday is to see another football team worldwide.
That’s why Prime Casino wanted to know which European cities offer the best football city break. We’ve looked into weather, attractions, hotels, quality of the teams, and more to reveal Europe’s best destinations to watch football.
The Best Cities For A Football Break
1) Madrid, Spain - 8.59 Football City Break Score
The best city for a football break is the Spanish capital, home to Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid, with a score of 8.59 out of 10. Madrid ranks highly for its number of restaurants, attractions, and Google searches for tickets.
Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid are two of the most successful teams in Spain and Europe, with the second-highest average UEFA coefficient and the second-highest number of trophies. Real Madrid have also won more UEFA Champions Leagues than any other team, with 15 in their history, more than double any other club.
Madrid is a great place for art lovers, with the Royal Palace of Madrid and the Museo Nacional del Prado being some of the top attractions in the Spanish capital. Both of them rank above Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu, which is the fourth favourite of traveller’s rankings. Madrid is also a great place to eat, with more than 10,000 restaurants (63 of them are Michelin Guide restaurants). Madrid has a vibrant tapas culture, so don’t be afraid to dig into some patatas bravas, tortilla Espanola, and croquetas.
2) Milan/Lisbon - 7.96 Football City Break Score
Milan and Lisbon share second place, with a football city break score of 7.96 out of 10.
Both cities are home to two successful teams, with Milan sharing Inter and AC Milan and Lisbon sharing Benfica and Sporting Lisbon.
Milan
Inter Milan and AC Milan share one of the most iconic stadiums in the world, the San Siro. Its iconic status comes from its design, history, and cultural significance, viewed on the same pedestal as the Duomo Cathedral. The San Siro was previously going to be demolished to make way for a new stadium. However, a local heritage commission deemed the stadium to have ‘cultural interest’, which has since prevented any plans to tear it down.
Sharing 99 trophies between the two sides, including 10 UEFA Champions Leagues/European Cups and 39 Serie A titles, Milan ranks highly for its number of trophies and UEFA Coefficient.
Lisbon
Lisbon’s high score is due to its warm weather, number of restaurants and hotels, and the stadium’s close proximity to the airport. The clubs based in Lisbon are also very successful, earning 134 trophies in their respective histories, with Benfica earning 83 trophies and Sporting Lisbon winning 51.
Although the Portuguese league isn’t considered to be one of the top five leagues in Europe, both clubs are known for their academies and player development, with several top players starting or breaking out at these clubs. Cristiano Ronaldo, Rafel Leao, and Luis Figo all began their careers at Sporting Lisbon, whilst Ederson, Angel Di Maria, and Ruben Dias their youth at Benfica.
3) Rome, Italy - 7.71 Football City Break Score
In fourth place is Rome, with a football city break score of 7.71 out of 10. Rome is one of the most iconic cities in the world, thanks to its rich history and stunning landmarks. It’s also home to two of Serie A’s top teams, Roma and Lazio.
The Derby della Capitale is one of the fiercest rivalries in the world, stemming from location and historical social differences within the city. Both teams also share a stadium, the Stadio Olimpico, which seats over 70,000 supporters. Further intensifying the rivalry between these two clubs is the fact that they’ve won the same number of trophies, winning 17 each.
Rome ranks highly for its restaurants, attractions rated three out of five stars, hotels, weather, and UEFA coefficient. It’s also a desirable place for football fans, with more than 100,000 searches for tickets.
The only downside to Rome is that its football stadiums are far away from the airport. The Stadio Olimpico is 47km away from the Leonardo da Vinci International Airport, and it takes almost 40 minutes to get there.
The City With The Highest Number Of Top Teams
1) Istanbul, Turkey - 4 Top Teams
Istanbul is the city with the most football teams, with four teams regularly playing in UEFA competitions. Basaksehir, Besiktas, Fenerbahce, and Galatasaray are all based in Istanbul, and the latter three are considered Turkey’s ‘Big Three’. Galatasaray are the most successful team, having won 51 trophies, 14 more than Besiktas, who have won 37.
However, it’s Fenerbahce who have the highest UEFA coefficient. The Turkish Süper Lig might not be the best in terms of quality, but the atmosphere in these stadiums is fantastic, with some of the most passionate fans across Europe, especially in derby games between the ‘Big Three’.
The City With The Warmest Weather
1) Seville, Spain - 18.8°C
The city with the best weather is Seville, home to Sevilla. Seville’s weather peaks in August, right as the La Liga season starts, with the average temperature rising to 28.4°C. Seville is also a great place to watch a game as the chance of rain is low. In October, November, December, and January, just five days of rainfall occur, which is the highest number of rainy days across the year.
The City With The Most Attractions And Restaurants
1) Paris, France - 6,301 Attractions Rated 3+ Stars And 18,461 Restaurants
Paris has the most attractions rated three out of five stars on Tripadvisor, with a total of 6,301 attractions.
Among the many attractions that Paris has to offer, the Parc des Princes, home of Paris Saint-Germain, only ranks as the 118th best thing to do in Paris on Tripadvisor. The stadium is rated four out of five stars, with 480 reviewers out of 934 rating it as excellent.
Paris also has the most options to eat, with 18,461 restaurants to choose from — 6,000 more restaurants than any other city in our list. Paris even has 116 restaurants with Michelin stars, 10 of which have three stars.
The City With The Most Hotels
1) Piraeus, Greece - 12,590 Hotels
The Greek city of Piraeus has the most hotels, with 12,590 available. Piraeus is home to Olympiacos, one of Greece’s biggest football clubs. Olympiacos have won 80 trophies in their long, rich history, including the UEFA Conference League in 2024.
The main downside to a football city break is that Piraeus doesn’t have an airport, which means you’ll have to fly to Athens and travel 44.1km to Olympiacos’ stadium.
The City With The Most Trophies Earned By Its Clubs
1) Glasgow, Scotland - 241 Trophies Won.
Glasgow takes the top spot, with Celtic and Rangers winning 241 trophies between them. Rangers have won slightly more trophies than their Glaswegian counterparts, winning 122 in their long history.
However, after Rangers entered administration in 2012, their trophies include the Scottish Fourth, Third, and Second League titles. Celtic have won 119 trophies in their history, including a European Cup in 1967.
The City With The Shortest Average Distance From The Airport To The Stadium
1) Lisbon, Portugal - 6.0 Kilometers
The city with a football stadium in the closest proximity to its airport is Lisbon, with an average distance of 6km. The Humberto Delgado Airport is just 4.8km from the Estadio Jose Alvalade, the stadium of Sporting Lisbon, taking approximately 11 minutes.
That same airport is slightly further away from Benfica’s stadium, the Estadio da Luz, at just 7.1km, which takes approximately 19 minutes.
Methodology
We used UEFA to find the average UEFA coefficient for each team in each city. Where there were two teams, we calculated the average.
We only included teams with a UEFA coefficient to find the number of top teams in each city. Torino in Turin was removed because of this.
We used Climate Data to find the average temperature for each city.
We used Tripadvisor to find the number of attractions rated three stars out of five and the number of restaurants in each city. This data was collected on 10.03.2025.
We used booking.com to find the number of hotels available in each city. This data was collected on 10.03.2025.
We used Google Keyword Planner to find the number of searches for tickets of each football club in each city. We used the search term “[FOOTBALL CLUB] tickets”. We combined the searches for cities with multiple teams. This data reflects searches from the UK and shows searches between March 2021 and February 2025.
We used Transfermarkt to find the number of trophies each club has won. We combined the number of trophies for cities with multiple teams.
To find the distance from the stadium to the airport in each city, we used Google Maps. For cities with multiple clubs, we calculated the average distance. We took the distances for the lowest travel time. For Monaco, we took the distance from Nice Airport, for Leverkusen, we took the distance from Dusseldorf Airport, and for Piraeus, we took the distance from Athens Airport. These cities do not have an international airport, therefore we used the closest airport.
We combined this data into a weighted table, giving each factor a normalised score out of 10. We then took the average of these scores to calculate each city's football city break score.
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