Colombia Tripbod Liliana shares her first-hand tips on how to experience the U-20 World Cup in Colombia, the local authentic way with plenty of parties!

Football is a world language. If you love it, no matter where you’re from, you can enjoy a match and cheer your team in a stadium near home or this time, in Colombia!

The following words are written with the help of a male friend, who is a real football fan and gave me all the inspiration.

Colombians are a very welcoming and passionate people, so this U-20 World Cup – 29 July – 20 August – promises to be a continuous party in all stadiums throughout the country ( though at the entrance to the stadium, you may be breathalyzed, so beers will have to wait for ninety minutes)!

To begin with, we say football is like sex – it is to be lived rather than to be seen or as we say in Spanish, “you have to put on the team’s t-shirt” to really enjoy it! Therefore, the first thing to do before a match, if your team is not playing, is to choose one to root for…

Traditional chants and cheers in Colombia

Visitors can feel like locals in every game! To cheer for the teams, we use many of the chants from Argentinian football.  Players and team names or colors are echoed: “Movete rojo, movete, movete dejá de joder, mirá que esta hinchada está loca, y hoy no se puede perder” (Move, red, move, stop jacking around, see this crowd is mad and today you can’t lose).

Also simpler chants are sung: “Oeee, oe, oe, oeee, Colombia, Colombia” (with open “e”, like “eh”) and so on.

Supporters also perform “The Wave” in successive groups during the match.  In some cities, they have live music in the stadiums to entertain fans before, between and after halves (salsa orchestras or folk music groups).

Typical stadium food in Colombia

In the stadium and its surroundings, you can find fast food, including Colombian typical fried snacks such as deditos de queso, which are small pastry sticks filled with melted cheese, or at the Caribbean Coast stadiums (Cartagena and Barranquilla), the arepa ’e huevo – a cornmeal cake filled with a fried egg.  Going to the stadium and not eating one of these is not having been there at all!

The best football stadiums in Colombia

The eight cities where games will be held are all amazing – each one of them has its own wonders inside and outside the stadium. However, this is what my Caleño friend (from Cali) said of my hometown:

“As I see it, the best city to live football is Barranquilla. The football party there is unique and women enjoy it more than anyone! A beautiful Barranquilla girl wearing a football team t-shirt is quite something! People are nice, they throw confetti from the grandstand and shout out playful sentences to the players: “Oye, mi hermano, deja ya esa vaina y vete pa´tu casa que tu mujer te está poniendo los cachos, no joda” (Hey, bro, quit messing around and go home, your woman is cheating on you, for heaven’s sake!)”.

Barranquilla is rightly considered the Colombian National Team’s home.  And when locals win, you can be part of street parties, almost like carnival, in most of the city area.

Where to experience Colombian football fever outside the stadium

Anyway, parties are what Colombian people love the most and you can enjoy them in every one of our cities. If you can’t go to the stadium, there are also lots of places where people watch the matches on big screens, drinking and eating traditional football snacks merrily. In Bogota, for example, there are many pubs where you can find locally made beers typical snacks, such as fried squid, home pasties and patacones (crushed and fried plantains) and watch the game.

The best thing is that after the final whistle, it doesn’t matter if your team wins or loses, the locals keep partying anyway and you can be part of it!

Liliana Escobar (with the help of Chucky García)

Want to experience your personal football passion away from home and fancy a trip to the U20 world cup in Colombia? Tripbod Liliana offers 1-to-1 tailor-made trip planning on Tripbod.com and is on hand now to help you plan your very own authentic experience personally.