A World Cup squad’s plane was grounded after the aircraft was terrifyingly struck by lightning on their way to a match.
The Welsh women’s football team had a turbulent journey to their latest qualifying match in Montenegro, which took place on June 5 ahead of the 2027 tournament in Brazil.
Right-midfielder Ffion Morgan captured the moment players screamed as a blue-white flash ran from the front to the back of the aircraft as their plane circled over the small European country for an hour amid a fierce storm.
The pilot had earlier informed the team, support staff and coaches on board that the storm meant it was unsafe to land.
After the bolt of lightning struck the plane, they were diverted to Italy, where players spent around a day ahead of their 1-1 draw in Podgorica.
The pilot safely grounded the plane in Brindisi, Italy, before the squad had to leave for the airport and staff struggled to find them beds for the night.
Morgan said that many of the coaches and support staff slept in the airport to allow the players to take the last few available hotel spots around the city.
The 26-year-old and her team mates were left ‘tired and hungry’ in the airport – with no plan in place for making it to their match.
Midfielder Ffion Morgan captured the moment players screamed as a blue-white flash ran from the front to the back of the aircraft
Morgan, 26, was travelling with the squad to a World Cup qualifying match in Montenegro
Morgan, who currently plays for West Ham, was booked into a local hotel with three other players after their plane diverted to Italy
Morgan, who currently plays for West Ham, was booked into a local hotel with three other players, but around 60 people were left stranded at the airport.
They even slept at the airport to make sure the players had a bed for the night.
The team were stranded two nights before their match, and were still stuck wandering in Italy the next day – whilst they were supposed to be training at the stadium.
Fortunately, with the weather much calmer the team were then able to board a 20 minute flight to Montenegro.
The match took place the following day against the home side at the Stadion Pod Goricom.
The game finished 1-1 with Hannah Cain’s penalty opening the scoring in the 40th minute.
Ffion said: ‘The longest away day ever. I thought it looks a bit grey outside for Montenegro – a hot country.
‘So I took a peek outside to try and find the sun, but instead what did I find, flashes.
Morgan described peering out the plane window to find that thye were in the middle of a storm
As the lightning struck a blue-white light ran from the front of the back of the plane – the pilot immediately turned and landed in Italy
The lightning was followed by complete darkness in the plane, before it diverted and landed safely in Italy
Morgan filmed parts of the trip and told how staff and coaches slept at the airport to ensure the players were able to get beds for the night
‘And they just got worse, the pilot said we couldn’t land so we had to loop round until we could.
‘Problem is we were looping into the storm and yeah we got hit by lightning. So we landed.
‘It clearly wasn’t very safe to land in Montenegro, so we ended up in Italy.’
Head coach Rhian Wilkinson said afterwards she expects the team to remember the difficult journey ‘forever’.
‘I think absolutely this is going to be a story forever and when they write their autobiographies, I’m pretty sure it will be a chapter,’ she said.
‘It wasn’t just a travel delay, that was a real horror trip and a frightening one as well,’ she told the BBC.
‘There was the physical lack of sleep – a full night of lost sleep – and also a lot of stress.
‘It is one of those things that a lot of people are frightened of and then we have a scary moment there, so thank goodness everyone is healthy.’
Wales must now beat Albania and then either Romania or Norway if they are to qualify for the 2027 World Cup.
The side has already beaten Albania twice in their campaign to get to Brazil – winning 4-0 in Wrexham and 1-0 away from home.
The play-off matches will take place in October and December.
