Fans furious at ticket prices for Champions League final at Wembley - 7M sport

Fans furious at ticket prices for Champions League final at Wembley



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Posted Friday, February 18, 2011 by theguardian.com

• Cost of seats for neutrals ranges from £176 to £326
• Uefa's prices condemned as 'absolutely outrageous'

Fans furious at ticket prices for Champions League final at Wembley
Arsenal are looking to Wembley but can their fans afford to go?

Uefa has been accused of exploiting supporters as it emerged that tickets for this season's Champions League final at Wembley on 28 May would be the most expensive ever with the cheapest on general sale costing £176 each, including a booking fee.

Some 11,000 tickets will go on sale to the general public costing £300, £225 and £150 plus a £26 "administration fee". An allocation of 50,000 tickets which will be reserved for fans of the two finalists will include "category four" tickets at £80 each, according to Uefa but the Football Supporters Federation condemned the prices as too high.

"These prices are absolutely outrageous and take ticket pricing to an absurdly stratospheric new level," said the FSF chairman Malcolm Clarke. "In a difficult economic climate, not only in this country but across Europe, where supporters may be coming from, this represents disgraceful exploitation of fans."

The details of the ticket prices dampened the euphoria in England during a week in which both Tottenham and Arsenal scored significant victories in the Champions League over Milan and Barcelona, raising hopes that a Premier League club could reach this year's Wembley final.

The cost of Champions League final tickets has rocketed since Manchester United played Barcelona in Rome 2009. The category three tickets have almost doubled since then, when they cost £80. The new ticket prices represent an increase of around 15% in each category on those for last year's final between Internazionale and Bayern Munich in Madrid.

The Uefa director of competitions Giorgio Marchetti insisted the prices were based on the market rate and compared with those for the World Cup final. "The prices are based on the type of event and when you compare it to other events we don't think that the Champions League final is overpriced," he said. "We do not want to squeeze every single penny out of the market."

The Champions League final took place on a Saturday last year for the first time after the Uefa president, Michel Platini, said he wanted to attract more children to the match. "That's also why we put some tickets from children at a discounted price," said Marchetti, though the 500 packages on offer for one adult and one child are only available in category two and will cost £338. "That's a 50% discount for the child," Marchetti added. The £26 administration fee per two-ticket booking was justified because there were "costs involved" he said.

Marchetti added: "This is the market price. Do you think we would have trouble filling Wembley if the prices were higher? Do you think it would be different? We try to strike a balance between the interest of supporters and the interest of the event. Why should we prices the tickets lower than what we think is a fair level?"

But the ticket prices compare unfavourably with the cheapest tickets for last year's World Cup final in South Africa which cost £106 and next year's Olympics where seats are available for the 100m final night at £100. A centre-court ticket for the men's final day at Wimbledon last year cost £104.

Clarke added: "To ask fans to fork out between £150 and £300 for a single match ticket is outrageous and strikes as profiteering at the supporters' expense. That's before we even get started on the £26 administration fee which is the cherry on top of a pretty disgusting cake. Uefa should be ashamed of themselves and there is no way of justifying such a high fee. It is totally unacceptable whatever country the supporters are from but it will be particularly harsh on fans coming from abroad who have to add travel costs."



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