Chelsea Foundation in partnership with trivago gave 10 lucky competition winners a ‘Wherever You Go’ experience last week.
This once-in-a-lifetime chance included an exclusive training session at Cobham where the group were given full training kit, enjoyed fun and competitive practices and were joined by Denis Zakaria.
As part of the all-expenses-paid package, the competition winners also attended our Premier League home fixture versus Fulham where they treated to matchday hospitality courtesy of trivago.
The winners, who had travelled from all over the UK, included Prem Kyapchhaki and Shanti Rana who made the trip from Cardiff but are originally from Nepal. Prem said: ‘It has been a dream come true!’
Lifelong Blues supporter George Street and his wife Carla were also among the lucky 10. George said: ‘We’ve been together for over 20 years, supported Chelsea together (because of George!) and support each other through everything, so it’s brilliant to be able to enjoy this together.
‘I applied via Facebook and couldn’t believe it when we won. I cried when Denis Zakaria turned up as its amazing to be able to meet one of the players and when I see how happy it makes George, it makes me happy.’
Chelsea season ticket holder Eric Ponsford said: ‘Even for someone who has been going to Chelsea for all of these years it’s fantastic to be able to come down here, especially to see the training ground which is amazing.
‘To be honest I thought it was a scam when I found out I had won, I got straight on the phone to my son Alan who is with me today, he’s now 40 but quickly went back to being a young, excited four-year-old when I told him. I’ll be 76 next month and this has been the best birthday present I could have wished for.’
Michael Cornall, international operations and events manager at Chelsea Foundation, said: ‘It was fantastic to see the enjoyment and enthusiasm from the winners of this fantastic prize from trivago. It was clear to see just how excited they were to train at Cobham and the opportunity to meet Denis Zakaria. It was an honour to play a part in what will be an unforgettable experience for the prize winners.’
To complete the ‘Wherever You Go’ experience, the winners were also gifted a dinner party and finished their stay with a private tour of Stamford Bridge.
If you would like to be in with the chance of winning the next trivago ‘Wherever You Go’ experience, enter the next competition here