Brighton's rapid rise from brink of collapse to European run
There's something melancholic about an English seaside town in winter. Whether it's the shuttered shop fronts rusted by the salty air, the sickly green waves crashing against the vacant shoreline, or the wind buffeting rows of empty beach huts, there's often a sense of stoicism, a need for hibernation and a yearning for better times.
However, for the residents of Brighton and Hove on England's south coast, this year will be different. Those familiar doldrums will be shaken off as the city and its football club prepare for the team's first European campaign in its 122-year history -- a result of an incredible sixth-placed finish in the Premier League last season that handed them a spot in the UEFA Europa League.
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It has been a long time coming, as Brighton fans have had to endure heartache over the years: From relegation from the top flight in 1983, the same year they lost an FA Cup final to Manchester United, to almost being relegated to the Football Conference and liquidated in 1997, to repeated failure in the Championship playoffs -- they lost three times between 2012-2016, before finally achieving promotion to the Premier League in 2016-17.
Now things are different. Amid worldwide acclaim for their transfer business and tactical style under exciting head coach Roberto De Zerbi, Brighton's rise to playing in Europe is quite a story.
The city relies on the summer "holiday season," when its population swells as thousands of Londoners -- or DFLs ("Down From London") as the locals call them -- take the roughly 50-mile trip to the seaside. On Thursday, it will welcome fans of Greece's AEK Athens for the first group-stage game, before supporters from the Netherlands' Ajax Amsterdam and France's Marseille make the journey in October and December.
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Brighton have always maintained a strong community ethos -- CEO Paul Barber personally sent a letter of thanks to the 41 devotees who travelled to every home and away fixture in their first season in the Premier League -- so as soon as the Europa League draw was made in Monaco earlier this month, supporters began organising flights and hotel rooms, determined to make the most of the opportunity to attend matches in Europe for the first time.
"It's a tough group but I'm really happy with it," Brighton local Kim Strudwick tells ESPN. "You want to play teams that you know and it's going to be amazing to watch Athens and Marseille. We've booked flights for Amsterdam as well. It's going to be a great experience. I want to make sure I live it and say I've been."
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