Thursday evening’s Europa League return match between Polish titleholders Lech Poznan and Faroese champions KÍ Klaksvík could be in doubt, as thick fog has prevented the Polish side from reaching the Faroe Islands as planned.
Lech secured a 1-0 victory in Poznan in the opening leg thanks to a late strike by Ivory Coast forward Yannick Agnero. However, the team now faces a race to arrive in time for the second leg, which is scheduled to begin at 6.30pm local time on Thursday.
For two consecutive days, the Polish club have attempted to fly into Vágar, the only airport serving the Faroe Islands, but dense fog has made landing safely extremely difficult.
The squad endured a lengthy wait on Wednesday. During the delay, an increasingly irritated head coach, Niels Frederiksen, told his players that they could not continue postponing their departure indefinitely and would eventually have to make a decision.
“If we travel early tomorrow and then play later that day, we will need to depart very early, although there should still be some time available for rest,” he told the squad on Wednesday.
Lech’s players returned to the aircraft early on Thursday, while the club’s social media account announced too soon that the flight had received permission to depart. The plane later circled near Norway’s western coast for about 40 minutes before being redirected to Bergen.
At one stage, the aircraft became the world’s most-followed flight on the Flightradar tracking platform, as thousands of Lech supporters monitored the team’s difficult journey.
Lech remain in discussions with Uefa over whether the match should proceed as scheduled or be moved to a later time, allowing the club a better opportunity to reach the islands.
KÍ Klaksvík generally recommend that visiting clubs arrive two days before a fixture because local weather can easily disrupt travel plans.
The club also advises opponents to use Atlantic Airways, the Faroese national airline, because its crews are accustomed to operating in challenging landing conditions. Three of its aircraft reached the islands on Thursday morning before the weather deteriorated once more.
Lech instead decided to travel with Comlux, a private charter operator.
Unpredictable weather in the Faroe Islands has caused similar problems for visiting clubs in the past. Two teams facing another Faroese club, NSÍ Runavík, in the Conference League also experienced delays this summer and did not arrive until matchday.
NSÍ Runavík are scheduled to meet FC Lugano this afternoon, with the Swiss side avoiding potential disruption by arriving on Tuesday.
Lech’s domestic rivals Legia Warsaw made fun of the situation on social media. They advised their upcoming league opponents, Radomiak Radom, to organise their journey early and travel by public transport, accompanying the message with a fictional bus-tracking graphic.
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