Lech Poznań match postponed due to flight issues; other Polish clubs compete in Europe

Lech Poznań's Europa League qualifying match against Faroe Islands club KÍ has been rescheduled from Thursday to Friday. The postponement stems from severe travel disruptions faced by the Polish champions, who experienced significant delays and diversions due to fog.

The team's journey began with a planned departure on Wednesday afternoon from Poznań's Ławica Airport. However, fog on the Faroe Islands prevented their initial flight. A second attempt early Thursday morning saw them take off but forced an emergency landing in Bergen, Norway, due to continued adverse weather conditions over the Faroes. After several hours in Bergen, Lech finally landed in Vágar, Faroe Islands, late Thursday afternoon, just three hours before the originally scheduled kickoff.

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Lech had several days to prepare for their arrival. I spoke with people from the club and warned them about the worst possible scenario - fog and landing problems. I also suggested our local airlines, whose pilots know the specifics of the Faroese airport and the local weather perfectly. Let's just say my warnings were met with a slight smile.

UEFA initially proposed a two-hour and 15-minute delay to the match, but ultimately rescheduled it for Friday evening. The flight tracking data for Lech's journey showed a peak of 35,000 users monitoring their progress, highlighting the significant public interest in their travel ordeal. Despite some social media speculation, Lech did not face a forfeit, though the club drew criticism for not planning their travel earlier, unlike officials and the Swiss team Lugano, who were also playing in the Faroe Islands on Thursday.

Sabina Poulsen, a Polish resident in the Faroe Islands, had warned the club about potential landing issues due to fog, advising them to use local airlines familiar with the conditions. She noted that other flights landed successfully on Thursday, suggesting the issue lay with the charter plane hired by Lech. Meanwhile, in other European qualifying matches, GKS Katowice was eliminated from the Europa Conference League after losing their tie to Hapoel Tel Aviv. However, Raków, Górnik, and Jagiellonia are still competing in the European tournaments.

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And now the most important thing: all other planes landed in the Faroe Islands today. The problem was precisely the one hired by Lech.