Chris WrightOct 24, 2025, 06:00 AM ET
This weekend, Truro City and a hardy group of their fans will be making a historic trip for their National League fixture against Gateshead.
With the two clubs situated in opposite corners of the country, the game represents the longest away trip in the history of English professional football, with the travelling Truro fans facing a gruelling 902-mile round trip from their homes in southern Cornwall all the way up to Gateshead in the northeast, on the other side of the River Tyne from Newcastle.
The Tinners earned promotion from the regional National League South last season and as such are competing in the National League this year -- the fifth tier of the football pyramid that takes in clubs from right across England.
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Faced with league fixtures scattered all around the country, Truro's closest National League opponents this season are Yeovil Town who are based a mere 280-mile round trip away in the county of Somerset.
Indeed, those intrepid travelling Truro supporters have already broken the distance record once this season with a 878-mile round trip to Carlisle United, which saw almost 80 fans make the 14-hour journey to Brunton Park and back only to watch their side lose 3-0.
The previous Football League record was set with the trips between Newcastle United and Plymouth Argyle in the 2009-10 Championship season, which was a 832-mile round trip.
As exhausting as their expeditions will be this season, Truro's tour itinerary pales in comparison to some of the longest-distance league fixtures in various countries around the world. Here we look at some of the most gargantuan away trips taking place in professional league football at the moment, with all distances measured in miles, as the crow flies between the two home stadiums of the clubs involved.
Chinese Super League (1,819 miles)
Given the scale of the country, you could be forgiven for thinking that Chinese football would cough up some mammoth away trips. However, the majority of the clubs involved in the Super League (and the majority of China's population of 1.4 billion in general) are based east of the Heihe-Tengchong line, which splits the country in half.
As such, the longest round trip this season is the comparatively brief hop between Yunnan Yukun and Changchun Yatai (1,819 miles).
Chilean Primera División (2,316 miles)
With the country of Chile stretching for thousands of miles down the western coast of South America, it stands to reason that their top domestic league has a couple of long-haul trips between clubs -- the longest of all being the round trip between Huachipato and Deportes Iquique (2,316 miles).
Indian Super League (2,582 miles)
Another of the largest countries on the planet, India's football away days are somewhat moderated by a couple of the farther-flung clubs relocating to more centralised stadiums during the league season.
However, the tie between NorthEast United FC (no prizes for guessing where they are based) and Bengaluru FC is still a fairly daunting 2,582-mile round trip for any fan intending on making the journey.
Kazakh Premier League (2,606 miles)
Kazakhstan's top flight might not be the most distinguished in world football but by virtue of being staged in one of the world's 10 biggest countries by land mass, the away day between FC Yelimay and FC Atyrau still manages to rub shoulders with some of the longest trips in professional football (2,606 miles).
Spanish LaLiga 2 (2,748 miles)
This season, Spanish football has witnessed its longest-ever league away trip with the game between Las Palmas and FC Andorra in LaLiga 2, which broke the existing national record by some distance -- if you'll excuse the pun.
Las Palmas are based on the island of Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands, located roughly 100 miles off the coast of North Africa. FC Andorra on the other hand are situated in the miniscule country of the same name, nestled high among the Pyrenees mountains on the border between Spain and France.
That means that any travelling fan faces an intimidating 2,748-mile round trip between the grounds, which presumably might involve a stint aboard a ferry, aeroplane or perhaps even a cable car.
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Russian Premier League (2,910 miles)
Most Russian Premier League clubs are situated (at least approximately) in the west of the sprawling country. As such, the longest mainland round trip for travelling fans is between Zenit St Petersburg and Dynamo Makhachkala (2,770 miles).
There is one trip that eclipses it, thanks to FC Baltika Kaliningrad's promotion to the Russian Premier League for the 2025-26 season. Baltika are based in Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian enclave situated between Poland and Lithuania, and as such their journey to face Dynamo Makhachkala in the south of mainland Russia is a whopping 2,910 miles.
An honourable mention is also definitely due for Luch-Energiya Vladivostok, who played in the Russian Premier League between 2006 and 2008. They were based in Vladivostok which is in the far east of Russia, close to the border with China and North Korea on the Sea of Japan. Vladivostok is roughly 3,985 miles east of Moscow, meaning every other single club in the Russian Premier League at the time were faced with enormous trips to the Pacific coast.
The record for the longest-distance fixture in Russian professional football was the second-tier game between Baltika and SKA-Khabarovsk in 2023.
With Kaliningrad being an enclave to the west of mainland Russia and Khabarovsk also being situated in the far east of Russia (about 500 miles north of Vladivostok), the two teams were presented with a gargantuan 4,362-mile round trip.
Brazilian Serie A (3,990 miles)
While Brazil's second-tier Serie B has a fixture between Amazonas (who are based in the Amazon rainforest city of Manaus) and Criciúma which entails a 3,810 mile round trip, that is eclipsed by the Serie A game between Fortaleza on the north Brazilian coast and Internacional in the southerly state of Rio Grande do Sul, which sees fans having to travel 3,990 miles across the country for the occasion.
Major League Soccer (5,564 miles)
Spanning North America, one of the largest land masses on the planet, it should perhaps come as little surprise that there are a number of truly vast away trips in MLS this season. While the league is divided into Eastern and Western Conferences, each team plays a handful of of regular-season matches with opponents on the other side of the continent.
For example, New England Revolution fans face long treks from the north-east to California in order to face LAFC (5,176-mile round trip), LA Galaxy (5,186 miles) and the San Jose Earthquakes (5,354 miles).
However, the biggest excursion of all is presented by the fixture between Vancouver Whitecaps and Inter Miami CF, which entails a 5,564-mile round trip that even crosses an international border en route. And, for those paying attention, Lionel Messi & Co. will be playing in a new home next season at Miami Freedom Park -- 28 miles south of their current digs at Chase Stadium -- meaning a new record could be set in 2026 if Thomas Müller's team are pitted against Messi's side.
Canadian Premier League (5,574 miles)
As the second biggest country on Earth in terms of land mass, Canada can boast a truly epic away day in its top tier of domestic football with the tie between Pacific FC on the west coast and Halifax Wanderers on the east entailing a huge 5,574-mile round trip that would take in the entire southern border and probably a ferry trip or two across the Salish Sea.
Australian A-League (6,566 miles)
In common footballing parlance, "derby" games are usually held between two clubs in close proximity but the A-League fixture between Perth Glory and Wellington Phoenix very much bucks that trend.
The city of Perth is located on the west coast of mainland Australia and Wellington is on the northern island of New Zealand, which means the round trip between the two stadiums stands at a colossal 6,566 miles over land and sea.
The game is therefore on record as the longest-distance professional league game in the history of association football. It's little wonder they call it the "Distance Derby."
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Coupe de France (21,303 miles)
While not a league fixture, it's certainly worth giving an honourable mention to the Coupe de France, which often includes teams from distant French overseas territories and therefore produces some of the most ridiculous away trips imaginable.
The competition is famously open to any and all amateur and professional clubs based in France or its 13 overseas territories outside Europe, such as Guadeloupe in the southern Caribbean or Réunion in the Indian Ocean. This means that occasionally an amateur team from a rural town in the middle of France can end up being drawn against exotic opposition from a remote Pacific island located thousands of miles away.
Indeed, the longest trip ever recorded came in 2014 when Trelissac FC were pitted against Magenta Noumea in the first round. Trelissac played in the Championnat National 2, the fourth tier of French football, at the time and are based in a small rural village in the Dordogne region of mainland France. Amazingly, Magenta are based on the island of New Caledonia in the southwest Pacific, roughly 750 miles from the eastern coast of Australia.
As such, Trelissac had to make the truly unbelievable 21,303-mile round trip for the tie which took almost 60 hours in total and included a layover in Japan. They lost 3-0.
