Looking for a special treat for the football fan in your life? How about a four-day break in the company of soccer legend and pop philosopher Eric Cantona?
That’s the proposition from Cantona’s travel brand, Looking FC, partnered with travel start-up DHARMA. Between them, they have put together a squad of 11 football-focused getaways that invite small groups of fans to spend quality time with selected sporting heroes, from World Cup winner Emmanuel Petit, to Argentina’s record-breaking “Captain of Captains” Javier Zanetti, as well as visiting iconic stadia and experiencing the “pride, power, and deep-rooted rivalries” of match day.
Tickets to the season’s biggest encounters
Trip dates fall between November 2024 and May 2025 and are chosen to coincide with some of the football year’s most high-octane fixtures, where participants will have guaranteed seats in the “passion sections of iconic stadiums”. These range from Anfield, to witness Liverpool versus Manchester United, or Parc des Princes to watch PSG’s titanic clash with Marseille Le Classique. Chant workshops will teach you how to join in with the atmosphere in some of Europe’s most beloved homes of football, and fans can choose non-European destinations including Buenos Aires and Casablanca.
The trips are limited to no more than 20 people and are fan-led, by people who “live and breathe their city and club and are there to make your trip one to remember,” press materials say. “Our idea was to create the most passionate football trips on earth, with charisma and soul,” said Cantona. “Everything today is optimized for price. We wanted to optimize for passion.”
“Feel the love, the agony, the ecstasy, the passion”
With that in mind, beyond the thrill of match day, the football stars associated with each trip will also share their own passions with guests. Activities on offer include not only Q&A and merchandise signing with the sports stars, but also more creative and hobby-driven interactions, such as street art sessions in Naples with Eric Cantona, French cooking classes with Petit, empanada-making with Juan Pablo Sorin, and five-a-side with PSG golden boy Javier Pastore or “Lord of the Manor” Djibril Cissé.
Although Cantona claims the trips are not “optimised for price”, the costs, which include accommodation, insider experiences, and most meals, begin at a startlingly reasonable €897. Transportation to and from the destination city is participants’ own responsibility but considering how much some fans pay for tickets and journeys to big matches, the price point could well mean that a football trip of a lifetime is not out-of-bounds for that special person in your life.
“Our goal is to allow football fans to discover the world and its cities through its local football culture,” Cantona told The Times. “We want our community to feel the love, the agony, the ecstasy, the passion of being a football fan.”
