On 30 March, the 2024 speedway season will officially begin on the international stage. On that day, the A Final and the B Final of the European Speedway Team Championships will take place in Pardubice with the participation of the national teams of Denmark, the Czech Republic, Norway and Slovenia, as well as in Gdańsk, where the teams of Latvia, Germany, Sweden and Ukraine will compete, respectively. The start of the rivalry at the Zbigniew Podlecki Stadium at 2 p.m. Admission is free.
Eight teams, entering the DME on 30 March, will fight for three places in the Grand Final. This will take place on 6 April at 2pm in Grudziądz, where the host Polish team, which will defend its title, will already be waiting for its rivals. The winners of Finals A and B will be promoted. The Grand Final will be completed by the second-placed team with the most points.
The formal host of the competition in Gdansk will be Ukraine, which is unable to host the tournament on its own territory due to hostilities in the country. Following the example of other sports, the FMU was happy to accept the offer to host the event at the Zbigniew Podlecki Stadium.
For the large Ukrainian community living and working in Gdansk and the entire Pomeranian Voivodeship, this will certainly be a good opportunity to directly cheer on athletes from this country in international competition.
This is one of the reasons why the organisers have decided not to sell tickets for this competition. Admission is free for all fans, regardless of passport. Instead, it will be possible to buy competition programmes on site, the proceeds from which will be donated to the relevant organisation, indicated by Oleksandr Plodostyi, Consul of Ukraine in Gdańsk.
On paper, the Swedes seem to be the favourites for the Danzig competition, but the other teams are certainly also thinking about advancing to the decisive game in Grudziądz. It promises to be a really interesting tournament to start the season.
An additional attraction will be the memorial race, dedicated to the memory of Zbigniew Podlecki, a legend of Gdańsk Wybrzeże and Polish speedway, who is the patron of the stadium at ul. Zawodników 1. The riders nominated to start in race number 20 will compete in it.
Tickets for the Grand Final of the European Team Championships are on sale. They can be purchased online at tickets.speedwayevents.pl and at ebilet.pl.
