THE shock early exit from the World Cup of Europe's top footballing nations has completely messed up a Malvern teenager's holiday plans.

Fanatical soccer fan Alex Walker, of Hornyold Road, headed for Europe last month with the intention of watching the games in the countries from which each team originated.

But France, Croatia, Italy and Spain, which he left to the final part of the holiday in the expectation they would make it to the final stages, all went out before Alex could get to them.

Alex said the highlight of the holiday so far was watching Denmark versus Senegal in a packed Copenhagen bar.

"The atmosphere was superb," he said. "It was packed to the walls and the roof."

Alex also managed to find a Brazilian bar in Luxembourg to watch Brazil play Turkey.

"Every Portuguese Brazilian within 100 miles had travelled there," he said.

So far, Alex has travelled through Denmark, Luxembourg, Croatia, Holland, Germany and Austria. Despite the fact that his schedule has "gone a bit pear-shaped", he said he had still enjoyed himself.

The 18-year-old, who will be going to the University of East Anglia in September to read Scandinavian Studies, left his job as manager of Clive's Fruit Farm, in Upton, to go trekking across Europe with Worcester-based pal Tom Colley.

The pair are both founder members of the Malvern Canaries, a Norwich City supporters' club based in Malvern.

Despite Spain's controversial quarter-final exit from the World Cup at the hands of South Korea, they intend to stick to their original plan of finishing off their adventure by watching the final with friends in Bilbao on Sunday.