Business vs Passion! Soccer fan trades fish for Europa League semi-final ticket

A Norwegian bartered five kilos of semi-dried fish for a ticket to Thursday’s semi-final clash between Bodo/Glimt and Tottenham Hotspur in the Arctic Circle, as the hosts aim to become the first Norwegian club to reach a European final.

Some 50,000 fans were vying for just 480 tickets to the second leg of Bodo/Glimt’s Europa League semi-final.

After missing out, Torbjorn Eide, a production manager at a fish farm in Senja, offered five kilos of boknafisk, a Norwegian delicacy worth nearly 2,500 Norwegian crowns ($243), in exchange for a ticket.


"We produce Norway’s best boknafisk, and you probably can’t get it in Bodo city. So I thought maybe someone would want it," Eide told Norway's state-run broadcaster NRK on Tuesday.

Oystein Aanes, who had a spare ticket because his brother couldn't make the game, took the bait. "It was just a fun thing," Aanes told NRK.

Inspired by the deal, Nils Erik Oskal decided to try his luck with five kilos of reindeer meat.

"Someone took the bait. It didn't take long," he said.

Oskal’s trade could be worth about 1,000 Norwegian crowns. "But that doesn't matter, I get to experience something huge," Oskal said.

FAQs

Q1. Which team will play Tottenham Hotspur in Europa League semi-final?
A1. Tottenham Hotspur will play Bodo/Glimt in Europa League semi-final.

Q2. Bodo/Glimt represents which country?
A2. Bodo/Glimt is the Norwegian club.