Lech Poznań reaches Faroe Islands after 24-hour fog ordeal, Europa League match moved to 21:45

Fog grounds Lech

Lech Poznań's journey to the Faroe Islands for their Europa League third qualifying round second leg against KI Klaksvik became a logistical ordeal spanning more than 24 hours. The Polish champions were originally scheduled to depart from Poznań's Ławica airport on Wednesday at 14:30, but dense fog over Vágar, the sole airport on the Faroe Islands, forced the flight to be called off after nearly three hours of waiting on the ground. The departure was rescheduled to Thursday morning, the day of the match itself.

On Thursday, the team's chartered Comlux Malta Boeing 737-548 (registration MLM712) took off from Poznań at approximately 9:00. After roughly two hours in the air, the pilot encountered the same fog conditions over the archipelago, circled the Norwegian coast for about 30 minutes, and diverted to Bergen. Lech issued a statement on social media explaining that weather conditions at Vágar had made landing impossible and that the team was in contact with UEFA regarding the exact time and date of the match. The squad spent nearly three hours on the ground in Norway before the aircraft departed again at 15:10 and landed at Vágar shortly after 16:20 Polish time, more than seven hours after the initial Thursday departure. The flight's progress was tracked on flightradar24.com by nearly 35,000 users at the moment of landing, and by over 10,000 throughout the journey.

Match rescheduled to 21:45

The second leg, originally set for 19:30 Polish time on Thursday, was pushed back to 21:45 Polish time (20:45 local time) after consultations between the clubs and UEFA. KI Klaksvik had indicated that if Lech failed to arrive on Thursday, the match would be postponed to Friday, 14 August, at 20:00. Faroe Islands journalist Tróndur Arge first reported the time change at approximately 13:30 local time, and the information was later confirmed on KI Klaksvik's official website. Lech announced their arrival with a brief post on X shortly before 17:00 Polish time. The first leg, played a week earlier in Poznań, ended 1:0 for the Polish side.

Legia Warsaw's social media jab

Rival club Legia Warsaw seized on the situation to mock Lech on social media. The Warsaw club posted a message on X addressed to Radomiak Radom, their Friday opponents, advising fans to plan their journey in advance due to traffic disruptions around the stadium from a planned Polish Army parade. The post was widely read as a pointed reference to Lech's travel difficulties. Legia's administrators even modified a screenshot from a flight-tracking website for the post. Legia's Friday match against Radomiak kicks off at 20:30.

Sporting stakes

Lech entered the Europa League qualifiers after losing a two-legged tie against Danish champions Arhus GF in Champions League qualifying. The winner of the Klaksvik-Lech tie will face the winner of FC Thun versus Vikingur Reykjavik in the next round, with the Swiss side FC Thun holding a 3:0 lead from the first leg. The match in Tórshavn will be played on an artificial pitch, which Lech coach Frederiksen suggested could suit his technically skilled players.

We have many players with very high technical skills who should cope with such a surface. It can be an advantage for them too, even though they are not used to such pitches. It will be important to increase the tempo of our play. In the first match we noticed that the more often we accelerate, the more dangerous our attacks became. And pitches with artificial grass favor faster play.