Enthusiastic Slovak fans fell collectively out of Tampere due to wild prices.
– Hockey is the most popular sport in Slovakia, so it is more popular than football. Usually there are a lot of fans at the World Cup, but now the high prices and the difficult availability of tickets kept much of it out.
Slovak Nikola Gapova commented nastily on Thursday in Tampere.
There are usually thousands of Slovak fans watching the World Hockey Championships, but there were about 100 of them in the Nokia arena in the Finland match.
– This is too expensive a country: food, drink, accommodation, match tickets and everything. Slovaks can’t afford it, says a guest of the British Hockey Association in Tampere Marian.
– I’m Slovak, but I live in Vienna. Prices in Finland are double compared to Austria and four times higher than in Slovakia, he continues.
Average earnings per tonne
Lubos Schwarzbacher (left) Ivan Rudolf considered the price level in Tampere absurd. – However, it is worth encouraging Slovakia to come here, the men said. PASSI FLAME
The average income of Slovaks is just over 1,000 euros a month.
– Most fans need to save money to get here. We saved too, but we’ll be here again next season. This is so great Lubos Schwarzbacher and Ivan Rudolf comment.
They were already watching the matches of the first round in Helsinki. A pleasant surprise awaited the men who arrived in Tampere on Wednesday.
– We pay 300 euros for a double room per night. Tampere is really expensive, much more expensive than Helsinki. Hotel Tampere is on a lower level. There are higher prices here, but a lower level than in Helsinki, says Rudolf.
In Slovakia, a night in a three-star hotel costs an average of 71 euros. The average price of a beer mug in Bratislava is 1.50 euros.
– The guy pays for everything, so I don’t care, Schwarzbacher grinned and glanced at his friend Rudolf.
– A beer in Bratislava is two euros, here it is ten. Tough gig, Rudolf acknowledged.
Beautiful country
Nikola Gapova has lived in Finland for six years. She has played in the women’s hockey championship series in Espoo. PASSI FLAME
Slovaks are very grateful for Helsinki’s public transport.
– We bought a day ticket for eight euros. It allowed unlimited travel by metro, tram and bus. Great job! In Finland, taxes seem to be targeted at alcohol, not on public transport. After all, eight euros is not even a pint here, Schwarzbacher says.
All interviewees praised Finland as a beautiful and attractive country.
Gapova, who played in the women’s championship series in Kiekko-Espoo, has enjoyed the country so well that it has taken root permanently.
– The people are wonderful and the country is beautiful. I really like the Finnish system, a woman working in childcare estimates.
Maria, who only wanted to perform under her first name, considers Finland to be the most expensive country in Europe. – This is too expensive for me, even though I work in Austria, he said. PASSI FLAME