ELF Stadium – Helvetic Mercenaries – LIDL Sportpark Wil SG

The LIDL Sportpark itself is actually quite nice. The size with 6000 seats fits really well. The Mercenaries were able to fill the stadium quite well in the first season (still as Helvetic Guards). The atmosphere is really good because all the stands seem reasonably full. I really hope that they reach the limit of capacity this season and that the stadium will really fill up. The stadium is very well maintained, of course, it’s Switzerland. Access for us is and was a bit of a hassle. We had to climb quite steep stairs with our heavy suitcases. It was quite dangerous at times. Fortunately, a player helped us carry it. Thank you 😉 That’s how it is in Switzerland, the people are very nice. Unfortunately, it was also very restrictive in Switzerland. Instead of “walking through” behind the team zone, we even had to go up the stairs to the stands and change sides of the pitch. The stadium is very open. That has an advantage and a disadvantage. For us, the advantage is more important. The light is great there (for taking photos). Beautiful, full-coverage illumination is guaranteed. The disadvantage is that when the sun is extremely bright in summer, there is no shade and you sit there and pant. However, we were constantly asked by friendly staff whether everything was OK and whether we had enough to drink. Unfortunately, the stadium in Wil (which is already a small town) is also quite far away. And unfortunately there is hardly any public transport in the town at weekends. In summer it’s something like 3km with a photo case … that was tough. And the way back was just as hard. Nevertheless, we were really positively surprised and had a lot of fun in Wil. The next visits are already planned.