TravelsByAdam.com

Falmer (AMEX) Stadium, Brighton

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Having not been to a live football match since March 2020 thanks to Covid and numerous personal reasons, I would end up visiting not one, not two, but THREE new grounds in July 2022. That’s three new grounds to tick off my list. Having visited the first of these venues, Old Trafford in Manchester, the second of the three grounds in question would be down on the south coast. Off we go to the Falmer Stadium, home of Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club.

The Falmer Stadium, as the name may suggest, is located in the village of Falmer, approximately five miles north east of Brighton. The stadium opened in July 2011 and is more commonly known as the American Express Community Stadium (or AMEX Stadium for short) for sponsorship purposes. It is the home of Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club, who beforehand played their home games at the Withdean athletics stadium. In addition to club football the Falmer Stadium has also hosted international football matches including men’s under 21’s and women’s games, as well as other sporting events including matches at the 2015 Rugby Union World Cup.

A grEIGHT Lionesses display

We would be at the AMEX for England’s second group game of the Women’s European Championships, this time against Norway. Having watched a tentative and nervous opening match for England a few days earlier at Old Trafford, this game would be sooooo much better (well for England that is).

England stormed into a 6-0 lead at half time and would score two more goals in the second half to seal a thumping 8-0 victory against the Norwegians. Needless to say there were plenty of great goals to witness including a hat-trick for player of the match Beth Mead. The result meant that England would qualify for the knockout stages of the tournament as group winners.

It was without doubt a highly enjoyable match for the crowd of just under 29,000, although spare a thought for the Norwegians in attendance who witnessed their side suffer a thrashing at the hands of the Lionesses.

A great day out down south

Sadly for us personally this would be the last England game in Euro 2022 that we would see live – we’d have to watch their remaining games on the TV. Still a very enjoyable day out and the fantastic match. The only thing that spoilt the day was the long drive back to Cambridge, not helped by multiple roadworks and road closures (we didn’t arrive home until around 2:00am). If only we could have stayed in Brighton overnight – maybe next time.

Getting to the Falmer Stadium

The Falmer Stadium is located in the village of Falmer, approximately five miles north east of Brighton. There are numerous public transport options available to get the the stadium including trains, buses and park & ride services. On our visit we used the Park & Ride from Brighton Racecourse and there was plenty of car parking spaces available there.

A comprehensive guide on all travel options for the venue can by found on the Brighton & Hove Albion FC Transport pages.

Address – Village Way, Brighton BN1 9BL

by Adam Thompson